The FBI has placed an anti-Trump analyst on administrative leave who was on what Director Kash Patel has referred to as his “enemies list,” according to a Friday report.
The New York Times reported that the analyst, Brian Auten, was suspended last week, according to sources familiar with the situation who requested anonymity.
“Mr. Auten worked on two major investigations that angered Mr. Trump and Mr. Patel, including the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 presidential election. He was also involved in analyzing the information found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, a discovery that roiled the 2020 presidential campaign,” the Times reported.
“The suspension of Mr. Auten came after he and others had been disciplined for serious mistakes found in the F.B.I.’s applications for a secret surveillance warrant involving a former Trump campaign adviser,” the Times added.
The Russian collusion case was found to be based largely on false information and originated within then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, several probes found. None of the allegations have been proven.
The so-called dossier offered up by former British spy Christopher Steele was also widely discredited via multiple investigations. Finally, the FBI obtained Hunter Biden’s laptop about a year before the 2020 election and failed to move on it. Information found on the device which also appeared to implicate his father, then-Vice President and later President Joe Biden, was found to be valid, but the bureau never moved on any of it nor sought arrests.
The Biden Justice Dept. did, however, go after others who were involved in several business deals with the Bidens selling influence, including former Hunter partner Devon Archer, whom Trump has since pardoned.