A major political storm is brewing in the United States: Internal FBI documents leaked to the public raise serious allegations that investigators within the agency used their power for political reasons to target former President Donald Trump and his associates. Among the revelations—an FBI agent tried to open a criminal investigation into the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
1+Senator Chuck Grassley released the correspondence, claiming it proves senior officials within government agencies secretly worked against elected officials. According to Grassley, the actions taken in the shadows are even more serious than the infamous Watergate scandal that once rocked America and led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
At the center of the disclosure is an email sent by FBI agent Kevin Guno. At the time, Musk had been appointed to help the government cut wasteful spending and streamline federal offices. As part of his role, Musk posted on the social network X asking government employees to detail five things they did during their workday. Following that post, the agent demanded a criminal investigation be opened against Musk, with the bizarre claim that since Musk owns Twitter, his use of the platform for work matters could generate advertising revenue for him.
1+Additionally, the documents show how another agent repeatedly begged his superiors to assign him to the major investigation that previously examined whether Trump’s associates colluded with Russia in the 2016 election—an investigation that began and ultimately ended without substantial evidence of such conspiracy. The disclosure reveals that contrary to agency leaders’ claims that investigators receive cases in a professional and impartial manner, there were agents who deliberately pursued politically charged cases to investigate Trump.
For years, Donald Trump and his supporters have alleged the existence of a “deep state”—a term for bureaucrats, judges, and intelligence officials who they claim exploit their permanent positions to thwart moves by right-wing elected officials. This email leak now serves as proof for them that U.S. law enforcement agencies sometimes operated according to political leanings rather than the letter of the law alone.