At least 10 FBI employees were fired Wednesday in connection with former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified records following his departure from the White House in 2021, according to multiple sources who spoke with CBS News.
The terminations followed a Reuters report revealing that the FBI had subpoenaed phone records belonging to FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles during a period when both were still private citizens.
Patel publicly alleged that his phone records had been secretly subpoenaed “using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.”
Reuters noted in its reporting that it did not independently verify any of Patel’s claims.
Patel did not provide evidence of wrongdoing by the specific FBI staff members who were ultimately terminated Wednesday.
All 10 of the fired agents and analysts had worked on the classified documents case, according to sources. None were connected to Smith’s separate 2020 election investigation, known internally as Arctic Frost.
CBS News confirmed with a source familiar with the matter that Wiles’ records were reviewed as part of the documents investigation.The outlet, however, was unable to verify whether Patel’s phone records were also reviewed as part of that same case.
According to the same source, Patel’s records were not subpoenaed in the Arctic Frost investigation into the 2020 election.
Jack Smith oversaw two separate federal investigations into Trump.
The first alleged Trump unlawfully sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The second focused on Trump’s retention of classified documents and alleged efforts to obstruct the Justice Department when it sought the return of those files.
Smith’s investigations produced the first-ever federal criminal indictments against a former president in United States history.
A federal judge in Florida dismissed the classified documents charges in mid-2024, ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed to his position.
Smith later dropped the 2020 election charges after Trump won the 2024 presidential race.
The Trump administration has since moved against federal employees connected to both investigations.
The Justice Department previously fired prosecutors who served on Smith’s team, and the FBI fired agents involved in the Arctic Frost investigation prior to Wednesday’s terminations.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents current and former FBI employees, released a statement condemning the latest firings, arguing they violated the due process rights of the terminated workers.
“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.
The investigations into Trump generated additional controversy late last year after the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that the FBI had obtained phone records from several Republican lawmakers as part of the Arctic Frost probe.
Those records contained basic call data, including information about who the lawmakers contacted in the days surrounding the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, but did not include the actual contents of any calls.
Trump called in October for Smith, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, and other officials to be “prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior.”
Attorneys representing Smith countered, calling his actions “entirely lawful, proper and consistent with established Department of Justice policy.”
CBS News reached out to the FBI for comment at the time of the report.
