FBI agent Thibault says retired, not fired, denies involvement in raid, leading laptop probe

FBI Agent Tim Thibault has issued a statement through attorneys following his recent departure from the bureau in which he says he has taken planned, eligible retirement and denies claims of political bias in his work – following news reports Monday that he was removed from a bureau office and suggesting he might have been fired.  

"Claims to the contrary are false," he says through a statement released Tuesday by his attorneys.

Thibault, was until Friday the FBI Washington Field Office assistant special agent in charge.

The statement released through the law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, which is representing Thibault pro bono, says Thibault played no part the bureau's Aug. 8 raid of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

On reports that Thibault was involved in the investigation of Hunter Biden's laptop, the carefully worded statement says he "did not supervise" the probe, was "not involved in any decisions related to the laptop" and "did not seek to close the investigation."

However, the statement also acknowledges the bureau's Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether social media posts by Thibault violated the federal government's Hatch Act, which essentially prohibits civil servants from engaging in political activities. 

The statement says Thibault expects to be "fully exonerated" when the probe is concluded and denies he "took certain actions in investigations for partisan reasons." 

Whistleblowers have alleged partisan bias in Thibault's work at the bureau. And Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in May that Thiebault "likely" violated federal regulations through politically-charged social media posts.