(José Niño, Headline USA) Newly released FBI records have renewed debate over the methods used in former special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents investigation of President Donald Trump. The documents describe monitoring of Susie Wiles’s communications, internal disagreement over the Mar-a-Lago search, and an unexplained lack of substantive notes from a 2023 meeting with former CIA Director John Brennan, according to reports by Just the News.
The White House Government Transparency Task Force released the material concerning the FBI investigation known as Plasmic Echo. According to Just the News, FBI Director Christopher Wray sought approval in March 2022 from Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to open a Sensitive Investigative Matter. Monaco wrote, “I recommend you approve,” and Garland subsequently signed the request. The underlying approval memo can be found here.
The released records indicate that investigators used a pen register and trap and trace device to collect call routing information associated with Wiles’s telephone number. Unlike a wiretap, that type of tool records communication metadata rather than call content. The files show that agents reviewed contacts between February and May 2023 involving at least 21 lawyers connected to Trump, campaign personnel, political advisers, and journalists.
One March 2023 memorandum stated, “Good afternoon, WFO is continuing to review the PR/TT on Wiles’s phone number and observed that [Lawyer 7] called Wiles at 2:04pm this afternoon for 41 seconds. [Lawyer 7] first called Wiles at 2:10pm EST on March 21, and Wiles returned his call for 1 minute and 34 seconds later that day at 2:59pm. These are the only contacts we have observed between the two of them since the PR/TT’s inception.” The filing is available here.
Another record reported that agents examined Wiles’s telephone activity following her April 7, 2023 interview with the FBI. That memo can be found here.
Separately, agents reviewed political activity connected with former Trump national security adviser Robert O’Brien. One message asked, “I’m going through all of it, and it looks like O’Brien is active in endorsing Republican candidates,” before seeking a review of his social media activity.
The disclosures also include evidence of tension inside the FBI about the search of Trump’s Florida residence. A Washington Field Office official wrote, “WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES), that we have established probable cause for the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. DOJ has opined that they do, requesting a wide scope including residence, office, storage space.” That memorandum is available here.
A separate Just the News report found that FBI and special counsel personnel met with Brennan at CIA headquarters on November 3, 2023 to discuss “expert testimony” in the classified information case. The official summary stated, “No documents were shown in this meeting. The original Agent notes will be maintained in the attached IA.” Yet the attached agent notes were blank except for basic identifying information. The meeting record is available here, while the notes can be reviewed here.
Smith has denied that political considerations influenced his work. “Anybody who has worked with me and knows me during the course of my career knows that I would not let politics play a role,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “And I would just add that if you knew the people I worked with, they would not either.”
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
