{"id":2666333,"date":"2026-09-21T08:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigndeep-state-agent-cited-wikipedia-in-attempt-to-launch-another-get-trump-probe-docs\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T08:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:51:06","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigndeep-state-agent-cited-wikipedia-in-attempt-to-launch-another-get-trump-probe-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigndeep-state-agent-cited-wikipedia-in-attempt-to-launch-another-get-trump-probe-docs\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep State Cited Wikipedia To Try To Launch Trump Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigndeep-state-agent-cited-wikipedia-in-attempt-to-launch-another-get-trump-probe-docs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2666333&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses recent revelations from a cache of documents released by Senator Chuck Grassley,highlighting alleged misconduct and weaponization within the FBI. Central figures include FBI agents Walter Giardina, Tim Thibault, and Kevin Gounaud, who reportedly sought to initiate investigations against Donald Trump based on weak or dubious evidence, sometimes even using sources like Wikipedia. Giardina repeatedly attempted to join the Crossfire Hurricane team and pushed for investigations into Trump\u2019s campaign finance activities and other political figures, as well as Elon Musk, wiht questionable evidence such as an unsubstantiated claim involving an OPM email. Gounaud also considered opening a case against Musk, suggesting a partisan bias against Trump. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the documents touch on suspicious references to the Alfa Bank controversy, with unanswered questions about a PwC report that concluded the alleged Russia-Trump communications were not nefarious-a report apparently not referenced in official investigations. The article calls for FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate what happened to that report and other potential misconduct, emphasizing concerns about the deep state and the importance of transparency and legal integrity within federal agencies. The piece is authored by Margot Cleveland, an investigative journalist and legal analyst.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Walter Giardina \u2014 an FBI agent whistleblowers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/CREC-2025-06-18\/pdf\/CREC-2025-06-18-senate.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim<\/a> \u201copenly stated his desire to investigate Trump, even if it meant false predication\u201d \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/2017_fbi_emails_obtained_by_chairman_grassley_-_crossfire_hurricane_sub-case.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cited<\/a> a Wikipedia article in support of launching yet another investigation of Donald Trump. That detail is but one of the crazier revelations buried in the latest cache of documents Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made public last week in conjunction with FBI Director Kash Patel\u2019s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/09\/16\/sen-grassley-vindicated-thrice-fold-on-alleged-scheme-to-hinder-biden-family-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, last week Patel testified before \u201cthe Senate Judiciary Committee on a wide-range of topics.\u201d He dropped in the middle of the four-hour-plus hearing news related to the ongoing investigation of the weaponization of the FBI: The FBI had \u201cmade up\u201d the Round River \u201cclassification,\u201d Patel told Grassley on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>For several years, Grassley has led an investigation into the weaponization of the FBI, including the launch of the Round River investigation, which whistleblowers <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/03\/13\/round-river-fbi-op-was-a-deep-state-conspiracy-to-thwart-investigation-into-biden-family-corruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the Iowa senator sought to \u201cimproperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease.\u201d While Patel\u2019s confirmation that the Round River \u201cclassification\u201d was fraudulent and that his team was investigating \u201cthe individuals who launched and codified this false and fake [classification],\u201d represented the biggest news of the day, the documents Grassley released in connection with the hearing revealed many more troubling details about the weaponization of the FBI.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Walter Giardina\u2019s Get-Trump Obsession<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Featured heavily in last week\u2019s document dump was Walter Giardina. The documents released on Tuesday by Grassley\u2019s office include multiple email threads showing Giardina had repeatedly \u2014 seven times in four weeks \u2014 attempted to join the Crossfire Hurricane team. Giardina\u2019s efforts contradict <a href=\"http:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/grassley-opens-senate-judiciary-fbi-oversight-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claims<\/a> \u201cby former FBI officials that agents don\u2019t get to pick their cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not only did Giardina try to force his way onto Crossfire Hurricane, but the emails released show he pushed for the launch of a new case against Trump based on supposed campaign finance violations \u2014 even before Trump\u2019s first inauguration. A January 12, 2017 email from fellow anti-Trump FBI agent Tim Thibault revealed Giardina\u2019s plot. In that email to his Washington Field Office supervisor, Joe Pientka, Thibault noted that Giardina \u201chas a[n] open source reporting on info related to questionable fundraising activities by the Trump campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional emails showed Thibault\u2019s efforts to sell Giardina to Supervisory Special Agent Pientka proved successful, with Pientka responding that he would discuss Giardina\u2019s interest in providing assistance \u201cwith Jeff Rhue who has taken my CROSSFIRE portfolio at HQ and has started a new Illicit Influence Activities Team.\u201d Pientka then asked Giardina to \u201clink up\u201d with him.<\/p>\n<p>Another email dated January 20, 2017, noted Giardina was pulling \u201cFEC papers, financial disclosures and talking to a source\u201d related to the proposed investigation. Then, on February 27, 2017, Giardina explained that his Washington Field Office\u2019s federal public corruption squad was \u201cin the process of opening a campaign finance violation case pertaining to the 2016 election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A little over a month later, on April 5, 2017, Giardina met with Vivien Moon from the FBI Washington, D.C. field office about the investigation and followed up with a recommendation that she read the \u201cWikipedia page on Chain Bridge bank,\u201d which summarized the bank\u2019s history and its status since John McCain moved his campaign funds there as \u201cthe preferred bank of the Republican Party.\u201d Giardina then shared that recommendation with Thibault.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s right folks: FBI Agent Giardina sought to support an investigation against President Trump based on information from a Wikipedia page. <\/p>\n<p>Those efforts failed, however, at least according to records obtained by Grassley\u2019s team to date, with the investigation of supposed campaign finance violations never advancing.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>But There\u2019s More<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Giardina\u2019s efforts to launch another investigation into Trump was not the only new investigation he sought to start. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/grassley-opens-senate-judiciary-fbi-oversight-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">According<\/a> to Grassley, he also tried to open a case on <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/19\/us-news\/biden-fbi-doj-weighed-campaign-finance-probe-of-sen-kyrsten-sinema-after-she-left-dem-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sen. Kyrsten Sinema<\/a>, D-Ariz. And another agent, Kevin Gounaud, who collaborated with Giardina to launch the campaign finance case against Trump, also pushed to launch a criminal case against Elon Musk \u2014 something so farcical he ended his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/2025-02-22_fbi_hr_email_-_five_things_email1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">email<\/a> pitching the proposed Musk investigation by stressing: \u201cAnd no, I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, Gounaud suggested in a February 22, 2025, email to a fellow Washington field office agent that they open a criminal matter on the person or persons in the Office of Personal Management who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justsecurity.org\/108229\/what-just-happened-musk-email-federal-employees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved<\/a> the sending of an email asking government employees to \u201creply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.\u201d According to Gounaud\u2019s email, by asking for employees to report a list of five accomplishments to OPM, the OPM employee conspired with Elon Musk to obtain \u201csensitive government information outside of a strict need to know.\u201d Gounaud further posited that Musk\u2019s Twitter post about the OPM email \u201clikely violates\u201d federal law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHappy to write the case opening and find a prosecutor (or at least try),\u201d Gounaud wrote before stressing in conclusion: \u201cAnd no, I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While nothing appears to have come from Gounaud\u2019s suggestion of opening a criminal investigation into Musk, the Washington Field Office agent\u2019s email suggests Gounaud shared the same anti-Trump weaponization reflex as Giardina and Thibault.<\/p>\n<p>Another thread of emails released last week by Grassley shows a second potential connection between Gounaud and the weaponization of the FBI against the Trump Administration. <\/p>\n<p>Specifically, on February 16, 2017, when Giardina and Thibault were working to launch the campaign finance investigation into Trump, Gounaud emailed the get-Trump duo, telling them he had revised the list of investigative steps Giardina had crafted related to the proposed new investigation of Trump. \u201cThese questions are designed to gather available information of possible violations of election crimes or other public corruption-related criminal violations,\u201d Gounaud\u2019s revised outline opened. It then detailed various questions and steps for the agents to undertake in an investigation of the president\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Thibault emailed the revised outline of investigative steps to a higher-up at the Washington Field office named Michael Orlando, as if he (Thibault), had drafted the proposed investigative steps. Orlando then forwarded the email to Jeff Rhule, who as noted above, had taken \u201cCROSSFIRE portfolio at HQ and has started a new Illicit Activities Team within [Cyber Division].\u201d Orlando explained that Tim Thibault would be the proposed agent to coordinate in the investigation, adding that Thibault \u201csent the below questions to help determine if there are potential criminal violations.\u201d Thibault then forwarded the news to Giardina and Gounaud.<\/p>\n<p>The extent of Gounaud\u2019s involvement with Thibault and Giardina remain unclear, but given the reported efforts by Thibault and Giardina to weaponize the FBI, Gounaud\u2019s apparent assistance in the efforts to launch yet another investigation of Trump proves troubling.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Implications From Strange Alfa Bank Reference<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The various email threads released by Grassley on Tuesday also included a passing reference to \u201cAlfa Bank,\u201d which when considered in context should raise some eyebrows. <\/p>\n<p>In a March 10, 2017 email, FBI agent Keith Mularski told Giardina that he was just talking with an individual from PriceWaterhouseCooper (\u201cPwC\u201d), who had done \u201cthe intrusion response for the Trump Server incident with Alpha (sic) bank that\u2019s been in the news. He was looking for an FBI contact to give his report to.\u201d \u201cWould that be you,\u201d Mularski asked before adding: \u201cThey\u2019ve been able to determine that it wasn\u2019t nefarious and that there was a perfectly logical reason for the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Giardina responded on March 13, 2017 that \u201c[a]ccording to Tom Grasso, Chicago SA Allison Sands has the Alfa Bank case.\u201d Giardina noted that he hadn\u2019t \u201cspoken to her as yet but have contacted her,\u201d then saying: \u201cI\u2019ll see if she wants to receive this info, if not, I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The emails released last week contain no further mention of the PwC report \u2014 but inexplicably no one else seems to have <em>ever <\/em>mentioned that analysis of \u201cthe Trump Server incident with [Alfa] Bank.\u201d And there <em>should<\/em> have been some reference to that report given John Durham\u2019s investigation into the Alfa Bank hoax and the Special Counsel\u2019s prosecution of Michael Sussmann.<\/p>\n<p>Readers may recall that in addition to peddling the Steele dossier, the Clinton campaign funded the Alfa Bank hoax, selling to American voters in the run-up to the 2016 election that the Trump organization maintained a secret communications network with Putin through the Russian-based Alfa Bank. A Clinton-backer named Rodney Joffe helped craft the theory, and on September 19, 2016, a Clinton lawyer named Michael Sussmann met with the then-FBI General Counsel James Baker, providing Baker data and whitepapers to supposedly establish the existence of that secret Alfa Bank communications network.<\/p>\n<p>Following Trump\u2019s election in 2016, and after the Russia collusion hoax collapsed, then-Attorney Bill Barr appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the FBI\u2019s handling of Crossfire Hurricane and related matters. Among other things, Durham investigating the Alfa Bank hoax and eventually charged Sussmann with lying to Baker. According to the indictment, Sussmann falsely told Baker he was not representing any client when he provided the then-FBI general counsel with the data and whitepapers related to Alfa Bank, when in fact, Sussmann was representing both Clinton and Joffe.<\/p>\n<p>At Sussmann\u2019s trial, FBI agent Allison Sands testified about the investigation into the supposed secret communication\u2019s channel. While Sands testified they concluded there was no basis to the claims, a transcript of her testimony shows no reference to the PwC report which reached the same conclusion. Nor was there any mention of the PwC report in Durham final special counsel report, even though that report detailed the investigation into the Alfa Bank allegations.<\/p>\n<p>The complete absence of any reference to the PwC report leads one to ask: What happened to that information? After all, the individual at PwC believed it important enough to contact the FBI about the report \u2014 and understandably so because just one day earlier CNN ran a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/03\/09\/politics\/fbi-investigation-continues-into-odd-computer-link-between-russian-bank-and-trump-organization\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">story<\/a> claiming the FBI was continuing to investigate the supposed Alfa Bank-Trump Organization link. But PwC had investigated the purported \u201cintrusion\u201d and concluded \u201cit wasn\u2019t nefarious\u201d and \u201cthat there was a perfectly logical reason for the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, what happened to that report? Did PwC provide it to Sands or to Giardina? And if Giardina received the report, what did he do with it, if anything? Given whistleblowers\u2019 allegations against Giardina and the complete absence of any mention of the PwC report, one must wonder if Giardina withheld that report from Sands or Special Counsel Durham\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>FBI Director Patel should task an agent to determine what happened to the PwC report and whether there was any criminality or misconduct involved. Patel should also look into another issue raised in passing by Grassley, namely what FBI employee Jodi Peterson has done to, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/grassley-opens-senate-judiciary-fbi-oversight-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to the Iowa senator, be responsible for the \u201cobstruction on many productions, not just Round River.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it may seem a little late in the day to worry about these details, the Deep State is just that \u2014 deep. And it will take time to expose the extent of alleged misconduct and to ensure all DOJ and FBI employees remain committed to the rule of law and transparency.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist\u2019s senior legal correspondent. Margot\u2019s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion, National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press.     She is also a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.      Cleveland is a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-media-lies-about-the-latest-special-counsel-revelations\/\" title=\"5 Media Lies About The Latest Special Counsel Revelations\">full-time university faculty member<\/a> and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance.       Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments\u2014her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FBI agent sought Trump probe using Wikipedia info, Grassley reveals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2666334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-239.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[50489,3976,5894,3634,10199],"class_list":["post-2666333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-deep-state-2","tag-investigation","tag-politics","tag-trump","tag-wikipedia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-239.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2666333"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666337,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2666333\/revisions\/2666337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2666334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2666333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2666333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2666333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}