At least 10 FBI agents who worked on Mar-a-Lago case are fired, sources say

At least 10 FBI agents who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021 were fired Wednesday, multiple sources told CBS News.

The firings came after Reuters reported that the FBI had subpoenaed recordings of phone calls made by FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, while they were both still private citizens, as part of Smith’s investigation into Trump.

The Reuters article cited Patel, who claimed the FBI secretly subpoenaed his phone records “using flimsy pretenses and burying the entire process in forbidden files designed to evade surveillance.” The Reuters article added that it had not independently verified any of Patel’s claims.

Special Counsel Jack Smith oversaw two federal investigations into now-President Trump. One case alleged that he illegally tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, while the other focused on his retention of classified documents and his efforts to obstruct the Justice Department when it asked it to turn over the records.

All of the FBI employees fired Wednesday were involved in the classified documents affair.

CBS News confirmed with a source familiar with the matter that Wiles’ records were reviewed as part of the documents case, but was unable to verify whether Patel’s were. In the case involving the 2020 election, known as Arctic Frost, Patel’s records were not subpoenaed, the source added.

CBS News has reached out to the FBI for comment.

The FBI Agents Association, which represents current and former agents, condemned the firings in a statement, saying they violated FBI employees’ due process rights.

“These actions weaken the Bureau by removing critical expertise and destabilizing staff, undermining trust in leadership, and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruiting goals, ultimately putting the nation at risk,” the group said.

Smith’s dual investigation into Mr. Trump led to the first federal criminal charges against a former president in U.S. history. The charges related to the classified documents were dismissed by federal judge in Florida in mid-2024 on the grounds that Smith was illegally appointed, and Smith dropped 2020 election charges after Mr. Trump wins the 2024 race.

The Trump administration has since gone after federal employees who worked on both cases. The Ministry of Justice fired a group of prosecutors who worked on Smith’s team, and the FBI has licensed agents involved in the Arctic Frost election investigation.

Investigations into Mr. Trump sparked a new series of controversies late last year, after the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that the FBI had obtained phone records of several Republican lawmakers as part of the Arctic Frost investigation. These recordings included basic information about who lawmakers called in the days surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, but did not include the content of their phone calls.

Mr. Trump request Smith, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, former FBI Director Christopher Wray and other officials will be “prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior” in October.

Smith Lawyers called his actions “entirely legal, appropriate and consistent with established Department of Justice policy.”

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