In another twist to this bizarre election, the FBI is now investigating its own tweets

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last updated 4 November 2016

FBI Director James Comey's decision to send a letter to Congress about potentially new emails related to the Hillary Clinton email server investigation has been met with backlash by Republicans and Democrats alike. Concerns grew so rampant that White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest had to clarify that "the president doesn't believe that Director Comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of an election. The president doesn't believe that he's secretly strategizing to benefit one candidate or one political party."

In the midst of all of this, though, the FBI has begun an internal investigation into its own Twitter account, ThinkProgress has learned. The issue comes down to @FBIRecordsVault, "the official FBI Records Management Division Twitter." The account hadn't tweeted anything for over a year until Oct. 30 at 4 a.m., when it linked to a bunch of documents, including one about Donald Trump's father, labeling him a "philanthropist." Two days later, the Records Vault account "tweeted documents regarding President Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich," ThinkProgress writes.

The account has not been active since that tweet.ThinkProgress has learned that the FBI's Inspection Division will undertake an investigation of the account.Candice Will, Assistant Director for the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, said she was referring the matter to the FBI's Inspection Division for an "investigation." Upon completion of the investigation, the Office of Professional Responsibility will be referred back to the Office of Professional Responsibility for "adjudication."Federal law and FBI policy prohibit employees from using the power of the department to attempt to influence elections. [ThinkProgress]

The FBI responded to the controversy with a statement: "Per the standard procedure for FOIA, these materials became available for release and were posted automatically and electronically to the FBI's public reading room in accordance with the law and established procedures."

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The department has reportedly been plagued with infighting about how to handle the renewed Clinton email scandal.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.