The Thiel Saga…

I’m sorry, what now?

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. 

Okay…

[Charles] Johnson, who said that he was also an informant for Buma, told Insider that he believes that Thiel’s reporting to the FBI was largely limited to foreign contacts and attempts by foreign governments to penetrate Silicon Valley. Thiel has publicly called on the FBI to investigate Google’s ties to the Chinese government.

Thiel, Johnson said, was directed by the FBI not to report on his interactions with Donald Trump or other US political figures.

Many of the politicians that Thiel has bankrolled — including Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, and Blake Masters, a former Arizona senatorial candidate — have repeatedly attacked the bureau and its leadership in public. In 2022, Vance, whose campaign and affiliated PACs received a total of $15 million from Thiel, falsely claimed that the FBI had illegally wiretapped Trump’s phone. Vance accused the bureau of “harassing faithful Christians” and pledged to block all of President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice nominees in retaliation for the Trump prosecutions. (Most but not all of Thiel’s donations occurred in early 2021, before the launch of Vance’s campaign and the many false claims he made over the course of the race.)

okaa…wha?

In a written statement to Insider, Johnson said he was stepping forward as a CHS to support Buma’s effort as a whistleblower to bring about what Buma believes to be necessary reforms in how the FBI handles informants. Johnson said that he was exposing Thiel’s work as a CHS as retribution for what Johnson perceives to be bad decision-making by the Founders Fund, Thiel’s venture-capital firm.

Johnson also told Insider he felt betrayed that Thiel did not invest in Johnson’s own startups, which he had expected Thiel to do in exchange for introducing him to Buma. Johnson said that he told Thiel that by offering the FBI a window into his contacts with foreign governments, he could demonstrate his loyalty to the United States. 

I have… no useful thoughts.