Kash Patel Fires More FBI Employees Linked to Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago Documents Case Against Trump

The FBI has fired at least 10 bureau employees, many of them special agents, for their work on Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-A-Lago. The terminations came just hours after beleaguered FBI director Kash Patel told Reuters that as part of Jack Smith’s investigations of Mr. Trump, the FBI had secretly obtained his phone records, along with those of Trump advisor Susie Wiles, who is now the White House chief of staff. Mr. Patel, 45, characterized the FBI’s decision to subpoena his phone records — when he was a former Trump Administration official — as evidence of a weaponized Justice Department under former President Joe Biden. “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,” Mr. Patel said in a statement to Reuters. In recent months, several Republican Senators, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, have expressed outrage that Mr. Smith secretly obtained their phone records as part of the January 6 probe.Documents seized during the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago. Department of Justice via APWithin hours after the Reuters report’s publication, the FBI dismissed at least 10 of its employees, including special agents, for their role in the Mar-a-Lago investigation. Those fired were believed to also have been involved in efforts to obtain phone records for Mr. Patel and Ms. Wiles, according to reports. The FBI recorded a 2023 phone call between Ms. Wiles and her attorney, FBI officials told Reuters. Ms. Wiles, who at the time was the head of Mr. Trump’s Save America PAC, was unaware that the call was being recorded, but her attorney did know it was being recorded and had consented to it, Reuters reported. Mr. Patel told Reuters that the collection of phone records continued into Ms. Wiles’ tenure as Mr. Trump’s co-campaign manager for his 2024 presidential run.Reuters was unable to confirm what records the FBI obtained or who authorized the subpoenas, or which of Mr. Smith’s prosecutions of Trump the subpoenas concerned. An FBI spokesman did not respond to questions from the Sun.In a statement, the FBI Agents Association said the firings violated the due process rights of FBI employees, similar to previous dismissals by Mr. Patel throughout his year at the helm of the bureau.Former Special Counsel Jack Smith is sworn in before he testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. Al Drago/Getty Images“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the FBIAA added.In the last 14 months, the Justice Department has been completely purged of any prosecutors or support staff who were involved in Mr. Smith’s investigations. Many FBI officers who were involved have been fired, pressured to resign or demoted. These actions have been controversial, since rank and file FBI agents lack the free agency of prosecutors to choose their assignments. The Trump Administration has argued that FBI personnel who were fired had acted overzealously and even unlawfully in abetting Mr. Smith’s aggressive push to charge, try and convict Mr. Trump before the 2024 election.On Monday, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon permanently banned the Justice Department from releasing Mr. Smith’s final report on his Mar-A-Lago case, ruling that doing so would constitute a “manifest injustice” to both Mr. Trump and his defendants. Mr. Patel’s firings come just days after he was captured on video chugging a beer and getting swept up in a raucous locker-room celebration with the USA Men’s Hockey Team shortly after winning the gold medal in a thrilling overtime win over Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Milan. The incident brought Mr. Patel’s frequent use of a private government-owned plane — which he is required by Congress to fly on for personal and business purposes — back in an unflattering spotlight. Boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach. Justice Department via AP“If you’re in the locker room, drinking beers because you’re a big hockey fan, it’s this completely selfish endeavor,” comedian Andrew Schultz said on his Flagrant podcast. An FBI spokesman, Ben Williamson, said Mr. Patel’s flight to Italy was for a pre-arranged work trip that included, among other things, brief meetings with the Olympic security team and local officials, capped off with Sunday’s gold-medal game. The trip was believed to have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.Prior to Wednesday’s dismissals, Mr. Patel, a former national security staffer and federal public defender who had no prior FBI experience before being confirmed as FBI director in 2025, was already under pressure to hire 700 new agents in 2026 to replace the exodus of thousands of special agents who were fired, forced out, or resigned since President Trump took office, sources tell the Sun.

Kash Patel Fires More FBI Employees Linked to Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago Documents Case Against Trump

Kash Patel Fires More FBI Employees Linked to Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago Documents Case Against Trump

More from the New York Sun

Top Nvidia Shareholders Urge Board To Consider Jensen Huang’s Return

Democrats Flip Alaska Governorship as Historic Midterm Wave Rolls On

Trump’s Asia Agenda Includes Putin But Not Kim, With Nvidia Scandal Off the Table

FAA Rules Out Cyberattack, AI Involvement in Nationwide Ground Stop

Buses, Delays, and Forfeit Threats: Air Traffic Shutdown Leaves Sports Teams Scrambling To Make Games

What Was Katie Zacharia’s Husband Doing With North Korea?

Sri Lankan Spared Execution For Deleted Facebook Post in Saudi Arabia, Remains in Jail

America Pays Twice What Other Rich Nations Do for Health Care. Can Democrats Fix That?

More from the New York Sun

Top Nvidia Shareholders Urge Board To Consider Jensen Huang’s Return

Democrats Flip Alaska Governorship as Historic Midterm Wave Rolls On

Trump’s Asia Agenda Includes Putin But Not Kim, With Nvidia Scandal Off the Table

FAA Rules Out Cyberattack, AI Involvement in Nationwide Ground Stop

Buses, Delays, and Forfeit Threats: Air Traffic Shutdown Leaves Sports Teams Scrambling To Make Games

What Was Katie Zacharia’s Husband Doing With North Korea?

Sri Lankan Spared Execution For Deleted Facebook Post in Saudi Arabia, Remains in Jail

America Pays Twice What Other Rich Nations Do for Health Care. Can Democrats Fix That?