The FBI has launched an internal investigation following a pair of tweets from its records division account that led to complaints that the bureau was influencing the upcoming presidential election, according to a report from ThinkProgress.
The records account had been dormant for more than a year before releasing a series of documents on several cases, including that of Fred Trump, the father of Donald Trump, Sunday.
Fred C. Trump: Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist. This release consists of… https://t.co/21KgtPpmzk
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
Then two days later, the same account tweeted a link to documents related to former President Bill Clinton’s decision to pardon hedge fund manager Marc Rich on his last day in office in 2001. The pardon was investigated and the case closed in 2005, according to business insider.
William J. Clinton Foundation: This initial release consists of material from the FBI's files related to the Will… https://t.co/Y4nz3aRSmG
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) November 1, 2016
The tweets confused plenty of political observers, given the controversy surrounding the FBI and its director James Comey revealing the possibility of new emails that might pertain to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server just days before the election.
Thursday morning, Candice Will, assistant director for the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, told ThinkProgess the Twitter brouhaha had been referred to the FBI’s Inspection Division for an “investigation.”
On Tuesday, prior to news of the internal investigation, the FBI put out this statement about the records release to several media outlets.
The FBI’s Records Management Division receives thousands of FOIA requests annually which are processed on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis. By law, FOIA materials that have been requested three or more times are posted electronically to the FBI’s public reading room shortly after they are processed. Per the standard procedure for FOIA, these materials became available for release and were posted automatically and electronically to the FBI’s public reading room in accordance with the law and established procedures.
