Newly public FBI records detail efforts by one agent to join the bureau’s Russia investigation involving President Donald Trump and by another to pursue a criminal investigation of Elon Musk.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, released the documents.

The internal communications date from 2017 and 2025. They cover Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s Russia investigation, and a proposal to investigate Musk over his request that federal workers report what they accomplished.

Grassley said the exchanges showed political bias inside the FBI and reflected the “Deep State” working against Trump. The documents were released in a broader batch involving Crossfire Hurricane and other FBI matters.

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“The previous Democrat administrations under Obama and Biden conducted secret, insidious and downright evil operations that almost took down our government,” Grassley said during an Oversight hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel.

“That's arguably worse than Watergate.”

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Crossfire Hurricane was the FBI’s 2016 counterintelligence investigation into whether members of Trump’s presidential campaign coordinated with Russia’s election interference.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Russian government.

Over the past decade, the Senate Judiciary Committee under Grassley has released multiple rounds of records involving FBI operations including Operation Arctic Frost and Round River.

Grassley has alleged that the Justice Department was weaponized against Trump and other Republicans.

“The overall sustained efforts by the Deep State in the dark corners of the bureaucracy is worse than anything Trump has been accused of. At least he’s upfront and open so people can judge,” Grassley said.

The committee’s latest release centers on three former FBI agents: Kevin Gounaud, Walter Giardina and Timothy Thibault. Giardina was fired by Patel in August over accusations of political weaponization.

Gounaud, who left the FBI in February according to his LinkedIn, sent an email that month seeking to begin a criminal investigation of Musk.

Musk was then serving as a special government employee overseeing DOGE.

The complaint concerned Musk’s announcement on X that government employees would be asked to share five things they had worked on that day.

Gounaud focused on Musk’s use of the social media platform to communicate that request.

“Musk used a non government system (twitter) to relate information that allegedly was for official purposes. In doing so, because he is monetized (he is a majority owner of twitter) he likely generated income for himself based on Twitter's monetization model and/or advertising revenues,” Gounaud wrote.

“His use of twitter in this and other instances is conceptually similar to Hillary Clinton's misuse of a private email server for government business,” Gounaud added.

Grassley later blasted the proposed criminal case in a post on X. He contrasted the agent’s approach with the daily work performed by people in Iowa.

“Here is an email I released 2day showing an FBI agent who was ready2 open a CRIMINAL CASE all bc Elon Musk asked govt bureaucrats 2 report 5 things they did in a wk,” Grassley wrote.

“Compare that 2 Iowans who work frm sunup to sundown EVERY DAY Washington rlly is an island surrounded by reality.”

The records also show that Giardina emailed at least seven times during a four week period beginning in January 2017, asking to be assigned to Crossfire Hurricane.

The investigation’s findings were handed to special counsel Robert Mueller in May.

Giardina corresponded with Thibault, whom Grassley had accused of violating the Hatch Act.

The allegation followed Thibault’s sharing of a Lincoln Project post on then Twitter describing Trump as a “psychologically broken, embittered, and deeply unhappy man.”

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel investigated and dismissed that allegation.

Thibault also appeared on several emails that Giardina sent to former Supervising Agent Joe Pientka.

“Based on the records known to date, that case didn’t advance,” Grassley said.

“His efforts, as well as the case he tried to open on Senator Sinema, undercut public statements by former FBI officials that agents don’t get to pick their cases.”

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