PayPal co-founder and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel was supposedly an FBI informant.
Thiel and longtime associate Chuck Johnson were reportedly verified to be registered informants by Business Insider. Johnson allegedly told Thiel to “join up or get crushed.”
According to the report, Thiel was introduced to FBI agent Jonathan Buma. Specializing in political corruption and foreign influence campaigns, Buma used Thiel as a confidential human source (CHS) starting in 2021.
Insider continues:
A source with knowledge of Thiel's relationship to the FBI, whose identity is known to Insider but who insisted on anonymity, corroborated Johnson's account, telling Insider that Johnson brokered a relationship between Thiel and Buma. Insider was able to confirm through an additional source that the FBI added Thiel to its formal roster of registered informants.
Another source close to Thiel told Insider that while they could not confirm that Thiel was a CHS, Thiel did speak to Buma occasionally. The source said that any assistance Thiel might have provided to the FBI should be understood as part of Thiel's gradual distancing of himself from Trump and the broader MAGA movement, which has vigorously criticized the FBI and other federal law-enforcement agencies.
Confidential human sources are a crucial element of the FBI's investigative process. The FBI's very own Confidential Human Source Policy Guide emphasizes that they are far more than mere casual tipsters. The bureau considers them valuable and reliable sources of information that are often critical to the success of federal law enforcement operations. Only the most valued informants are granted CHS status.
As a CHS, Thiel was assigned a code name and an internal serial number to track his reporting. The information he passed on about foreign contacts and Silicon Valley intrigue was reviewed and “validated,” or cross-checked against other sources, by his case agents and their colleagues.
Thiel did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A Thiel spokesperson stopped responding to inquiries after being told that Insider was reporting on Thiel's relationship with the FBI.
Insider's requests for comment also went ignored by the FBI's national press office.
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