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News Topical, Digital Desk : The FBI has fired 10 employees who investigated Donald Trump's handling of classified documents after his first term. FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday that current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' phone records, when she was a civilian, were also sought as part of the investigation. Patel presented no evidence of any wrongdoing by the dismissed FBI employees.
What was the matter?
After Trump left the White House in 2021, Special Counsel Jack Smith led two federal investigations into the now-president. One case focused on whether Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
The second case concerned classified documents that Trump took back to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida and his alleged attempts to prevent the US Justice Department from later retrieving them.
The FBI employees fired on Wednesday were all involved in the classified documents case. The BBC has contacted the FBI for comment. An advocacy group representing current and former FBI employees has condemned the dismissals.
Why were they dismissed?
Trump and two of his associates were indicted in 2023 following Smith's investigation of classified documents. In 2024, a federal judge in Florida dismissed the case against Trump, finding that Smith's appointment was illegal. This year, a federal appeals court in Georgia dismissed the case against the final two defendants at the request of Trump's Justice Department.
Since Trump's return to the White House in January, the Justice Department and FBI have fired employees who participated in the federal investigation against him.
The Justice Department also sought to bring charges against former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 during his first term, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had launched a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump.
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