Top-level FBI agent under fire for role in Hunter Biden investigation resigns

Timothy Thibault, a top-level FBI agent who had been under fire for his role in investigations regarding President Biden's son, Hunter Biden, resigned late last week and was walked out of the FBI, two U.S. officials confirmed. But these officials also said that Thibault had reached retirement age, and they added that all of those who retire hand over their badge and gun and are escorted out of the building.

Thibault, who worked in the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., had recently been removed from his position as assistant special agent in charge at the FBI's Washington Field Office, which covers all of the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia.

Thibault came under fire earlier this year from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley who had accused him of "improper conduct" in the Hunter Biden investigation, alleging that Thibault had tried to shut down any investigatory activity. The probe into Hunter Biden's business practices, run by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware, is ongoing. 

Grassley said in late July that "highly credible" whistleblowers had approached a senior Senate Republican and alleged a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about Hunter Biden. He cited a 2020 FBI intelligence assessment that was "used by an FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation." He continued, "Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation."