Declassified FBI records released Monday detail how investigators tracked Susie Wiles' phone contacts in 2023 while also gathering travel information on Melania Trump and Barron Trump during preparations for the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
According to Fox News, investigators monitored Wiles' phone activity from at least February through May 2023, recording incoming and outgoing contacts, call times and durations.
The records identify at least 21 attorneys and also show contacts involving campaign personnel, Trump Organization employees, Secret Service officials and journalists.
The files identify two Secret Service contacts only as "USSS 1" and "USSS 2," while other entries use labels such as "Lawyer" and "Campaign."
A March 24 entry shows a 41-second call from "Lawyer 7" followed by a review of earlier calls between that contact and Wiles.
A March 9 log also records calls between Wiles and at least six people identified as campaign personnel.
The records do not disclose the substance of those conversations or explain what investigators sought to establish through the contacts.
Wiles was running Donald Trump's political operation and serving as a senior campaign adviser during the investigation. She later became Trump's White House chief of staff.
"Jack Smith's surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power. Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple.
Those responsible must be held accountable," said White House spokesperson Lauren Bis.
The FBI and Justice Department opened the investigation in March 2022, according to Fox News, with then-FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking authorization and Attorney General Merrick Garland approving the full investigation.
Special counsel Jack Smith later assumed oversight after his November 2022 appointment.
Criticism and Comparisons
Heritage Foundation foreign policy expert Victoria Coates criticized the monitoring and said it represented an excessive use of investigative authority.
"The Biden FBI was following the precedent of the Obama FBI in 2015, when they used their authorities to surveil then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign at Trump Tower as well as other candidates, notably my then-boss, Senator Ted Cruz.
It's the ultimate political dirty trick," said Coates.
Coates also compared the Trump investigation with the Justice Department's handling of Joe Biden's classified-documents case.
"No, particularly by the Justice Department's own very low standards in dealing with President Biden's classified-document violations from his time as vice president, which were far more egregious than anything retained at Mar-a-Lago," said Coates.
She further raised concerns about the effect of monitoring communications involving campaign staff, attorneys and journalists.
"In our increasingly digital world, it raises the grim specter of future campaigns where an incumbent can weaponize the private communications of not only a candidate and his family, but also his staff," said Coates.
Fox Business reported that veteran FBI special agent Nicole Parker characterized the tracking of Wiles' phone as "entirely unjustified" while discussing a May 2022 memo involving Wray and Garland.
The records also show FBI planning for the Mar-a-Lago search included instructions to "finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son's travel," including aircraft information and specific travel timing.
The FBI executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, entering the property shortly before 9 a.
m. and beginning the search around 10:30 a.
m. , according to previously reported records cited by Fox News.
