FBI investigating one of its own Twitter accounts

The FBI has begun the process of opening an investigation into one of its own Twitter accounts, which was quiet for more than a year before releasing a stream of links to documents with political impact this week.

Candice Will, the assistant director for the FBI’s office of professional responsibility, has referred the matter to the bureau’s inspection division, she told consultant Jonathan Hutson, according to ThinkProgress.

{mosads}Nancy McNamara, the assistant director of the FBI’s inspection division, confirmed to Hutson that she had received the complaint, according to the left-leaning news outlet.

It’s unclear whether an investigation into the strangely timed tweeting has been opened. But the complaint nonetheless represents the intense unease within the FBI at having been thrust into the spotlight in the final days of the presidential election campaign.

After more than a year of silence, the @FBIRecordsVault Twitter account burst into activity this week, sending out nearly two dozen messages with links to former investigative documents that had been released through open records laws.

The first message tweeted by the account on Sunday contained information about an investigation into Fred Trump, the late father of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The final tweet, on Tuesday afternoon, led to documents about a closed case concerning the Clinton family foundation and former President Bill Clinton’s pardon of businessman Marc Rich.

Documents about the investigations had been previously released, though the Clinton file was posted online just a day before the Twitter account published a link.

The activity raised eyebrows and sparked additional scrutiny on the FBI days after Director James Comey notified Congress of a new stage in the investigation concerning Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State. Comey’s notification shook up the final days of the presidential campaign and invited criticism from both sides of the aisle for appearing to interfere in a political race.

The FBI has claimed that public materials are automatically loaded to its online vault following repeated requests under the Freedom of Information Act.