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A GOP megadonor may have been an informant for the FBI.
According to a new report Peter Thiel, a GOP megadonor and tech billionaire, started being an informant for the FBI starting in the summer of 2021.
Peter Thiel has worn many hats over the years: Silicon Valley founder, Trump megadonor, cryptocurrency booster, democracy skeptic.
But there is yet another facet to Thiel, one that has remained secret until now: FBI informant.
In the summer of 2021, Insider has learned, Thiel began providing information as a “confidential human source,” or CHS, to Johnathan Buma, a Los Angeles-based FBI agent who specializes in investigating political corruption and foreign-influence campaigns.
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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.
The reporting was reportedly limited to foreign contacts.
Thiel was reportedly introduced to Buma by conservative blogger Charles Johnson, who claims he was also an FBI informant, and that he believes Thiel’s reporting to the FBI was largely limited to foreign contacts and attempts by foreign governments to penetrate Silicon Valley.
The tech billionaire has also publicly called on the FBI to investigate Google’s ties to the Chinese government.
There appears to have been “no reporting on political ties,” Business Insider reported, noting that Thiel had donated $1.25 million to Trump’s campaign in 2016, endorsed him onstage at the Republican National Convention, and served on Trump’s transition team after he won.
Conversely, however, a source close to Thiel claims the billionaire’s work with the FBI should be understood as part of Thiel’s alleged attempt to gradually distance himself from Trump and the broader MAGA movement.
