帕特尔目前担任联邦调查局局长，怀尔斯则是白宫幕僚长。
据福克斯新闻消息，至少10名联邦调查局雇员已于周三被解雇。出于隐私原因，未公布姓名，联邦调查局特工协会（FBIAA）随后对解雇行为提出批评。
该组织在一份声明中表示：“联邦调查局特工协会谴责今日对联邦调查局特别探员的非法解雇，此类行为——如同帕特尔局长此前的其他解雇行动——侵犯了那些冒着生命危险保护国家的人员的正当程序权利。”
“这些行动削弱了该局的力量，因为它们剥夺了关键专业知识，破坏了员工队伍的稳定性，损害了对领导层的信任，并危及该局实现招募目标的能力——最终使国家面临更大风险。”
路透社率先披露了这些传票，传票是在拜登政府任内发出的，当时特别顾问杰克·史密斯正在调查特朗普试图推翻2020年大选结果以及他在海湖庄园处理机密文件的行为。
2023年，史密斯最终以多项重罪指控特朗普，指控其涉嫌试图质疑2020年大选结果以及卸任后处理机密文件的行为。
一名联邦法官随后在特朗普再次当选后，因司法部政策禁止起诉在任总统，批准史密斯撤回对大选干预案的指控，并撤销了司法部对另一项驳回机密文件案裁决的上诉。特朗普否认在两起事件中存在任何不当行为。
杰克·史密斯国会山作证的五大关键时刻
帕特尔在周三给福克斯新闻的声明中称，获取电话记录的行为“令人发指且极其令人担忧”。
他表示：“令人发指且极其令人担忧的是，前联邦调查局领导层以站不住脚的借口秘密传召了我本人和现任白宫幕僚长苏西·怀尔斯的电话记录，并将整个程序掩埋在禁止公开的案件档案中，以逃避所有监督。”
路透社报道称，联邦调查局发现这些电话记录被标记为“禁止”查阅的文件。
帕特尔还表示，他最近终止了联邦调查局将文件归类为“禁止”的权限。
福克斯新闻还从两名联邦调查局官员处了解到，2023年，联邦调查局特工录制了怀尔斯与其律师的通话。
联邦法官阻止公布杰克·史密斯报告第二卷
据这些官员称，怀尔斯的律师知晓通话正在被录音并表示同意，但怀尔斯本人未被告知。
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史密斯去年在国会作证时表示，议员通话记录帮助调查人员核实了1月6日国会山骚乱相关事件的时间线。
路透社报道称，他表示检察官“在获取这些记录时遵守了所有法律要求”，并告诉众议院小组委员会，从议员那里获得的记录不包含对话内容。
The FBI subpoenaed Kash Patel and Susie Wiles’ phone records in 2022 and 2023, when both were private citizens, as part of a federal probe into then former President Donald Trump, Fox News has confirmed.
Patel is the current FBI director, and Wiles is White House chief of staff.
At least 10 FBI employees were also fired Wednesday, Fox News was told. Names were not given due to privacy reasons, with the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) later criticizing the firings.
“The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,” the organization said in a statement.
“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.”
Reuters first disclosed the subpoenas, which were issued during the Biden administration, while special counsel Jack Smith was investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Smith ended up charging Trump in 2023 with multiple felony offenses related to alleged efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of the documents after he left office.
A federal judge later dismissed the election interference case after Smith moved to drop it following Trump’s re-election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith also dropped the Justice Department’s appeal of a separate ruling that dismissed the classified documents case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both matters.
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In a statement to Fox News Wednesday, Patel called the move to seize the phone records “outrageous and deeply alarming.”
“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,” he said.
The FBI had found the phone records in files labeled as “Prohibited,” Reuters reported.
Patel also said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as “Prohibited.”
Fox News also learned from two FBI officials that in 2023, FBI agents recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney.
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According to those officials, Wiles’ attorney was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not informed.
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Smith testified last year that records of members’ calls helped investigators verify the timeline of events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
He said prosecutors “followed all legal requirements in getting those records” and told a House panel the records obtained from lawmakers did not include the content of conversations, Reuters reported.
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