WATCH: “Outrageous and deeply disturbing.” FBI Director Kash Patel reacts to the incident involving phone records obtained by the prior FBI. pic.twitter.com/mHOFwiMslK
— Special Report (@SpecialReport) February 25, 2026
At least 10 FBI employees who worked on former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified records after he left the White House in 2021 were fired on Wednesday, multiple sources told CBS News.
The firings came after Reuters reported that the FBI had subpoenaed records of phone calls made by FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles when they were still both private citizens as part of Smith’s probe into Trump.
The Reuters article quoted Patel, who alleged that the FBI had secretly subpoenaed his phone records “using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.” The Reuters article added that it had not independently verified any of Patel’s claims.
Patel did not provide any evidence of wrongdoing by the staff who were terminated.