FBI Fires at Least 10 Staff Over Subpoenas for Patel and Wiles in Trump Classified‑Documents Probe
At least 10 FBI agents and support staff who worked on the Mar‑a‑Lago/classified‑documents probe were fired after obtaining subpoenas for toll and phone records tied to Kash Patel and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The toll records (numbers, times, durations) are routinely used in criminal investigations; Patel—who testified under a grant of immunity about Trump’s public declassification claims—called the subpoenas “outrageous” and “hidden in prohibited case files,” investigators say the records did not show declassification and also reviewed an allegation that Trump showed a highly classified document to Wiles, while critics contend the firings are part of a Patel‑led purge.
📌 Key Facts
- At least 10 FBI agents and support staff were fired over obtaining phone records tied to FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in the Trump classified‑documents investigation.
- The subpoenas sought toll records (phone numbers called, times and call durations); such records are routinely and legally obtained in criminal investigations.
- Kash Patel has called the subpoenas 'outrageous' and said they were hidden in 'prohibited case files.'
- Patel testified under a grant of immunity regarding his public claim that President Trump had mass‑declassified the seized documents; investigators concluded the records had not been declassified.
- The FBI also examined an allegation that Trump showed a highly classified document to Susie Wiles on a private plane in 2021.
- The firings are presented as the latest in an ongoing purge by Patel of FBI employees who participated in investigations of Trump or otherwise displeased the White House, raising claims of political retaliation.
- Reporting linked the personnel actions to broader criticism of Patel, including his use of an FBI jet for an Olympics trip.
📰 Source Timeline (2)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Confirms, via four people briefed on the matter, that the FBI fired at least 10 agents and support staff specifically over obtaining phone records linked to FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as part of the Trump classified‑documents investigation.
- Details that the subpoenas were for toll records (numbers, times, durations) and notes that such records are routinely and legally obtained in criminal probes, even as Patel characterizes the subpoenas as 'outrageous' and hidden in 'prohibited case files.'
- Reiterates that Patel testified under a grant of immunity about his public claim that Trump had mass‑declassified the documents and that investigators concluded the records had not been declassified, and notes the FBI also examined an allegation that Trump showed a highly classified document to Wiles on a private plane in 2021.
- Frames the firings explicitly as 'the latest in an ongoing purge by Patel of FBI employees who participated in investigations of Trump or otherwise have displeased the White House,' adding political context about retaliation and timing alongside criticism of Patel’s use of the FBI jet for an Olympics trip.