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Newly declassified records released by the White House on Monday show that FBI agents planning the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago gathered information on the travel of Melania Trump and Barron Trump, and later logged the phone contacts of Trump aide Susie Wiles, according to Fox News.
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Shop NowThe records concern “Plasmic Echo,” the code name for the classified documents investigation of Donald Trump, a probe later led by special counsel Jack Smith.
Fox News reported that agents tracked the travel of the former first lady and her son while preparing for the search, and that they monitored Wiles’ calls involving defense lawyers, campaign advisers and journalists. The documents indicate that agents collected call details, not the content of conversations, the network reported.
Fox News labeled its report a developing story. It carried no response from Smith, the FBI or the Trump family.
Other outlets that reviewed the files added specifics.
The Epoch Times reported that a task timeline dated May 31, 2022, directed agents to “finalize the FBI’s understanding” of the pair’s travel and the type of aircraft they would use.
The search took place on Aug. 8. IBTimes UK reported that the planning document referred to the former president, the former first lady and their “minor son.”
Nothing in the three reports describes any contact with either family member, or any harm to them. The records as reported describe planning steps ahead of a search.
On Wiles, IBTimes UK reported that the bureau used a pen register and a trap-and-trace device, tools that record numbers, times and call durations, from February to May 2023.
The outlet said the logs covered at least 21 Trump-affiliated lawyers, campaign aides and advisers, along with at least five journalists, and that no wiretap was involved. It credited Just the News with first reporting the phone records.
The Epoch Times also described a July 13, 2022, memo in which the FBI’s Washington Field Office said it did not believe probable cause for a search warrant had been established.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis called the operation “a disgraceful abuse of government power,” both outlets reported. An unnamed administration official told IBTimes UK the records captured “First Amendment activities.”
Smith has rejected claims that politics drove his work, IBTimes UK noted, citing his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. None of the three reports includes a response to Monday’s release from Smith or from former bureau officials.
