Susie Wiles FBI phone records: Why did agents secretly monitor Melania and Barron before Mar-a-Lago raid? New documents reveal

The newly revealed documents shed light on the extent of the FBI’s monitoring of President Donald Trump’s now-chief of staff Susie Wiles. They show that investigators tracked phone metadata reflecting her contacts with attorneys, journalists, campaign officials, Trump Organization personnel and Secret Service contacts. The federal agency also monitored US First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron along with Staff Susie Wiles’ cellphone. It was a part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether President Trump illegally hoarded national security papers at Mar-a-Lago following his first term.

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According to the documents released by the White House, the FBI was tracking the travel movements of Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump while planning the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022. Investigators were apparently trying to determine the best time to carry out the search based on the family’s movements.


Separately, FBI investigators examined Susie Wiles’ phone records in the months after the August 2022 raid. They were interested in her communications, including contacts with Trump’s defense attorneys. The surveillance, which took place under then-President Joe Biden’s administration, was part of a secret probe titled “Plasmic Echo.”

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Why FBI tracked Melania, Barron Trump

Federal agents secretly monitored the movements of Melania Trump and her son, Barron, before the FBI’s 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago. This is according to Biden-era documents the White House released this week. A May 24, 2022, FBI memo listed tasks to finish before the Aug. 8 raid on then-former President Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, home.

“Finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel (type of aircraft and specific timeline),” notes one item on their list. The final two items on the agenda were “swear out the warrant” and “finalize all coordination between FBI/DOJ/USSS” in West Palm Beach. The memo shows agents hoped to carry out the raid on June 6, 2022, a Monday, when the FBI theorized Mar-a-Lago “would have fewer people onsite.” The raid came two months later. “Any search warrants would be served after the former President departs Mar a Lago,” another document noted.

About a month before the August 8, 2022 raid, an unnamed FBI special agent questioned whether the bureau had the legal authority to search Trump’s office and bedroom. The agent suggested that the FBI should have further discussions with Trump’s lawyers before moving forward. Despite those concerns, the FBI carried out the search on August 8, 2022. Agents searched Trump’s office as well as the bedrooms used by Donald and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Susie Wiles phone calls tracked

Agents also secretly tracked phone calls to Trump’s top aide, Susie Wiles, now White House chief of staff. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said, “Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple.”

Former special counsel Jack Smith monitored the phone communications of Susie Wiles when she was Donald Trump’s campaign chief in 2024, newly released documents show. This included her communications with at least five journalists, 21 different defense attorneys, and several political advisers. Smith’s team obtained the information through what is called a pen register, a surveillance tool that records numbers called and the times of the calls. Though most names were redacted, but the documents show the news outlets she was in contact with included CNN, The Washington Post, Politico, and Just the News.

“On 19 May 2023, the Special Counsel’s Office informed the FBI Washington Field Office of correspondence with retained counsel for Former President Donald Trump that same day,” the documents released by the White House show. “The documents said the Washington field office and another person or entity that is redacted reviewed information associated with Susan WILES to document WILES’s telephonic communication with FPOTUS [former president] Donald Trump’s attorneys and members of the 45 Office on and around 19 May 2023.”