The United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday said it had begun an investigation into one of its own Twitter accounts after tweets on Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump’s father and Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton were posted. The account, @FBIRecordsVault, was inactive for over a year before the tweets were posted between October 30 and November 1, ThinkProgress reported.

A tweet on October 30 linked to documents relating to Trump’s father Fred C Trump and called him a “real estate developer and philanthropist”. The second tweet, on November 1, linked to documents relating to the FBI’s investigation of Bill Clinton’s presidential pardon of Marc Rich, a financier indicted in 1983 on several charges, including tax evasion. The documents assume electoral significance for this year’s presidential elections as Rich’s former wife Denise was a wealthy Democratic Party donor who gave over $100,000 (approximately Rs 66.71 lakh) to Hillary Clinton’s senatorial campaign, according to USA Today.

Assistant Director for the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, Candice Will, said the matter was being investigated by the agency’s Inspection Division. Will said the findings of the inquiry would be referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility for “adjudication”. However, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has questioned the timing of the tweets. Campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon asked if the agency would also be “posting doc[ument]s on Trump’s housing discrimination in [19]‘70”.

The FBI has also been criticised for announcing a fresh investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server after the discovery of a tranche of new emails on a computer seized during an investigation into sexually explicit text messages sent by former congressman Anthony Weiner. FBI Director James Comey has been accused of breaking the law because of the October 28 announcement, just ten days before the November 8 presidential polls.