At least 10 FBI employees were fired after working on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to a news report Friday.
The firings occurred after news broke on Wednesday that the FBI obtained phone records for now-director Kash Patel during the Biden administration in 2022, and current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' phone records in 2023, while they were both private citizens.
The subpoenas for the phone records were issued as part of then-special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Patel told Reuters that the bureau's subpoenas were an example of federal overreach by unelected officials.
“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,” Patel said.
The FBI director did not provide any evidence of wrongdoing by the staff who were terminated, CBS News reported, citing multiple unnamed sources.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents current and former agents, criticized the firings, saying they violate employees' due process rights.
"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 association said.
