Kash Patel fires at least 10 FBI employees who worked on Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents investigation: reports [View all]

Last edited Thu Feb 26, 2026, 08:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Independent

Wednesday 25 February 2026 22:56 EST


The FBI, under the leadership of Kash Patel, has fired at least 10 employees who worked on the investigation into classified documents at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, according to multiple media reports. The staffers were dismissed after Reuters reported that the bureau had obtained phone records from Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in connection to the probe during the Biden administration.

“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 told Reuters.

The investigation, launched in March 2022 under the direction of Special Counsel Jack Smith, focused on Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office in 2021 and his alleged obstruction of justice.

It culminated in an FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, during which agents recovered boxes containing materials marked top secret. The following year, Trump was hit with a 37-count indictment from Smith’s office, alleging that he, as a private citizen, willfully kept documents containing some of the country’s most sensitive secrets. In July 2024, a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/kash-patel-fbi-fired-agents-mar-a-lago-b2927786.html