Report: Peter Thiel Withdraws Name from Consideration for President’s Intelligence Advisory Board

Billionaire investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has withdrawn himself from consideration in President Donald Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board, according to a report.

The news is based on “two sources with direct knowledge of what happened,” the Atlantic reported.

“Thiel was in discussions to lead the PIAB, a panel which oversees U.S. intelligence agencies and advises the president,” they claimed, adding, “It’s unclear how far the process went before Thiel backed out, though one of the sources said the process for vetting Thiel for a security clearance had begun.”

The Atlantic noted that a senior intelligence role “could also pose conflicts of interests” with his investments, explaining that Thiel “co-founded the data-mining firm Palantir, which has held contracts with, among others, the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

Thiel, who donated at least $1.25 million to President Trump during his campaign, has faced frequent retaliation in Silicon Valley over his support for the president.

This month, Thiel sold the majority of his stake in Facebook and cut ties with the Y Combinator investor fund.

In 2016, the investor acted as a delegate for Trump during the Republican National Convention, and in March, he declared globalization to be over, proclaiming, “It feels so dated.”

Last year, Thiel announced that he would serve as an informal adviser to President Trump on technology and innovation, one month after popular LGBT magazine The Advocate claimed Thiel, an openly gay man, couldn’t be both gay and a supporter of Trump.

Charlie Nash covers technology and LGBT news for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.