The actions of the Biden White House have sparked ongoing controversy. They targeted Donald Trump and have become increasingly hostile toward Attorney General Merrick Garland for not acting swiftly on political matters. Their Justice Department has investigated pro-life activists, searched their homes, and those who posted anti-Biden memes. If Trump had done the same, it would have been a multi-week story. Additionally, Reuters reports that FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ phone records were seized during investigations led by ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith (via Reuters):
The FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, now the FBI director and White House Chief of Staff, when they were both private citizens in 2022 and 2023 during the federal probe of Donald Trump, Patel told Reuters on Wednesday.
Reuters is the first to report on the FBI’s actions that took place during the Biden administration, largely when Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating whether Trump had interfered with the 2020 election and had hidden classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to Patel. Smith was appointed to take over that probe in November 2022.
Patel portrayed the seizing of his phone records by the FBI and efforts to conceal them as an example of overreach by unelected government officials under Biden, a theme often repeated by President Trump.
“It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records – along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles – using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,” Patel said in a statement to Reuters.
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At least 10 current FBI employees have been dismissed as a result of the revelations about the targeting of Patel, Wiles and others connected to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to three FBI officials.
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Reuters could not independently establish what records the FBI obtained or who approved the subpoenas. The news agency also couldn’t ascertain if Patel or Wiles themselves were under investigation and, if so, why. Both were close to Trump during this period, as he built toward and ultimately launched his campaign to reclaim the presidency in 2024.
Both Patel and Wiles were known to have been interviewed by investigators as part of Smith’s investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents following his first term.
In 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles' attorney was aware that the call was being recorded, and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not.
First, which lawyer did Wiles hire? That trip-up seems like a brutal oversight. Second, we’ve just scratched the surface here. Will there be further legal action from Patel or Wiles? Will there be a probe or review to determine which records were seized? Also, yes, not shocking given what the previous administration has done, but we still need to hold people accountable. Joe Biden’s autopen fiasco, for example, shouldn’t go away either.
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