Donald Trump and Elon Musk. (Twitter Screenshot)
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said the records are evidence of political bias inside the FBI aimed at targeting Trump and other Republicans.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Newly released FBI records show that one former agent repeatedly sought a role in the bureau’s investigation involving President Donald Trump while another proposed opening a criminal investigation into Elon Musk, according to documents made public by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
The records include FBI communications from 2017 and 2025 and involve three former agents: Walter Giardina, Timothy Thibault and Kevin Gounaud. Grassley released the documents as part of his broader examination of Crossfire Hurricane and other FBI investigations.
Giardina sent at least seven emails over four weeks beginning in January 2017 seeking assignment to Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI investigation into possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia’s election interference.
Special counsel Robert Mueller later took over the investigation, which did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Emails show Giardina corresponded with Thibault, who was later found by the US Office of Special Counsel to have violated the Hatch Act by reposting a Lincoln Project message about Trump.
Thibault retired from the FBI in August 2022 before that investigation concluded. The office issued him a warning letter in January 2024 and closed the case.
Separate records concern Gounaud, who left the FBI in February 2025. That month, he sought a criminal investigation of Musk, then a special government employee overseeing DOGE, after Musk announced on X that federal employees would be asked to list five things they had accomplished at work.
Grassley characterized the records as evidence of political bias inside the FBI and accused government officials of targeting Trump and other Republicans.
During an FBI oversight hearing, he called the conduct “arguably worse than Watergate.”
Grassley said the proposed case involving Giardina did not advance. Fox News Digital said it contacted the FBI for comment.
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