According to The Daily Signal, the former special agent likened Musk’s use of X to promote DOGE—still calling the platform “Twitter” in internal correspondence—to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for official business. The push for an investigation followed Musk’s directive that federal employees list five things they had accomplished during the week, a move that triggered internal complaints, according to emails released by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Grassley released the records ahead of FBI Director Kash Patel’s oversight testimony, highlighting what conservatives have long argued is a politicized culture inside the bureau. “I would like to recommend the opening of a criminal 58 matter on the person(s) at OPM who approved the transmission of the earlier email. That person, in conspiracy with Elon Musk (who is reportedly an SGE), in addition to wasting a colossal amount of official time, encouraged, abetted, aided, etc. thousands if not tens of thousands, of government employees to violate government-wide security policy and transmit sensitive government information outside of a strict need to know,” then-FBI Special Agent Kevin Gounaud wrote in a Feb. 22, 2025, email to FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steven T. Dunn.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE RESIGNED BUT THE ALLEGATIONS DON'T END THERE
September 15, 2026
Gounaud pressed the matter further, writing, “Happy to write the case opening and find a prosecutor (or at least try). Alternatively, I am happy to report this to the OPM OIG or Congress. And no, I’m not kidding.” According to his LinkedIn profile, Gounaud left the FBI in February after 21 years and launched a private security firm, and it appears no criminal case was ever opened.
THE SUPREME COURT WILL DECIDE IF A NIGERIAN TERROR GROUP’S COOK GETS ASYLUM
Nonetheless, Gounaud laid out his theory of wrongdoing, asserting, “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.” He added that, “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.”
TALARICO HOPES A NEW PAXTON STORY WILL BURY HIS 13-DAY DISAPPEARANCE
The same tranche of records also sheds light on former FBI Special Agent Walter Giardina, who was involved in investigations of President Donald Trump and repeatedly lobbied to join the Crossfire Hurricane probe into the debunked Russia-collusion narrative. Patel fired Giardina in 2025, and Giardina is now among several agents suing the FBI, alleging they were terminated for political reasons.
EL-SAYED'S CAMPAIGN IS NOW RESPONDING TO HIS SISTER’S POSTS —BRACE FOR IT!
On Jan. 20, 2017, the day of Trump’s first inauguration, Giardina emailed FBI agent Joe Pientka stating, “I wanted to mention again my interest in joining the case.” In a Jan. 12, 2017, message to FBI supervisor Timothy Thibault, he wrote, “I’d be very glad to work with your squads regarding these matters. Please let me know when I could stop by to meet and how I can assist.”
ELIZABETH WARREN IS BACK TO REVIVE ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ CLAIMS WEEKS BEFORE VOTE
Giardina was previously quoted in The New York Times as saying, “We worked the cases we were assigned … The supervisors came to us and said, ‘You’re going to do this.’” He later served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign, which found no evidence of conspiracy with Russia in the 2016 election but insinuated that Trump might have obstructed the probe, and then on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump over his challenge to the 2020 election results.
SIX FLAGS SHUTS DOWN CALIFORNIA GOLIATH AFTER MAN IS THROWN FROM TWIN COASTER IN GEORGIA
“In the records, Giardina asked at least seven times via email in about four weeks to place himself on the Crossfire Hurricane team and start a new case on Trump,” Grassley said in prepared remarks for Tuesday’s hearing. “And he did so with the help of Thibault. Based on the records known to date, that case didn’t advance.”
SHUT DOWN SANCTUARY POLICIES ACT ADVANCES AFTER DEADLY CASES—AND PUTS BLUE STATES ON NOTICE
Grassley further pointed out that the Biden administration’s Justice Department and FBI weighed a campaign finance investigation into then-Arizona Sen. Kristen Sinema after she left the Democratic Party to become an independent. “His efforts, as well as the case he tried to open on Sen. Sinema, undercut public statements by former FBI officials that agents don’t get to pick their cases,” Grassley said, underscoring conservative concerns that the bureau’s immense power is being selectively deployed against political outsiders and dissenters.
