Biden-era FBI tracked Trump family travel and Wiles’ calls with lawyers in secret probe: docs, tell me about this news today

The headline refers to newly declassified Department of Justice and FBI records released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force. The documents detail surveillance and investigative methods used during Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents probe (codenamed “Plasmic Echo”) during the Biden administration.

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Key Revelations from the Documents

• Tracking Family Travel: Federal investigators tracked the travel itineraries and movements of Melania Trump and Barron Trump leading up to the August 2022 execution of the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.

  Ground News

• Monitoring Susie Wiles’ Communications: The FBI used pen register orders and metadata tracking on the phone communications of Susie Wileswho served as Trump’s senior campaign manager and is now his White House Chief of Staff.

  Ground News

• Scope of the Contact Logging: The records show that the surveillance logged communications involving at least 21 Trump defense attorneys, multiple political advisers, campaign staffers, and at least five journalists. The documents note that investigators tracked metadata (such as timestamps, call frequency, and numbers dialed) rather than intercepting audio contents of the conversations.

  Washington Examiner

• Internal Pushback: The released materials include internal FBI memoranda from early in the probe showing that some field agents and officials questioned whether sufficient probable cause had been established prior to moving forward with the Mar-a-Lago warrant.

Reactions and Context

• White House & Trump Allies: Current administration officials and Trump representatives condemned the findings, describing the surveillance of attorneys, political operatives, and family members as an abuse of executive power and weaponization of federal law enforcement against political rivals.

  930 WFMD Free Talk

• Legal & Department Rationale: In response to similar inquiries regarding Jack Smith’s investigations, DOJ officials and prosecutors have historically maintained that non-content metadata requests (like pen registers and travel cross-referencing) are standard investigative steps used to establish timelines, identify relevant witnesses, and assess facility occupancy before executing high-profile search warrants.