White House Documents Show FBI Monitored Melania and Barron Trump’s Travel Then Tapped Phone of Susie Wiles

Newly released White House documents reveal the FBI monitored Melania Trump and her son Barron's travel while preparing to search Mar-a-Lago. They also allegedly tracked phone activity involving current White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

The surveillance formed part of the classified documents investigation into Donald Trump, known as "Plasmic Echo," and was later taken over by special counsel Jack Smith, as shown in the documents released on Monday, October 5.

According to the report, emails between FBI officials in May 2022 showed that the agents were keeping an eye on the movements of Donald, Melania, and Barron as they were getting ready for the eventual search of the former president's residence in Palm Beach, Fla.

The investigators were attempting to find a time when Donald was away from Mar-a-Lago when the search took place. On August 8, 2022, the FBI carried out a search of the property and seized government records, which the prosecutors said the POTUS had improperly kept after he had left the White House. Barron was 16 years old at the time.

The newly released material also indicated that the investigators kept an eye on phone activity involving Susie, who was carrying out Donald's political operation as he was getting ready for the 2024 presidential campaign.

It was reported that the records included conversations involving Donald's defense lawyers, members of his campaign team, political figures and journalists. One of the logs showed a call between Susie and the commander in chief himself.

Even though the headline stated that Susie's phone had been "tapped," the records showed that the investigators acquired information about the calls rather than hearing the content of the conversations. The surveillance employed a pen register, a device that is capable of recording things such as the numbers from which calls came in and the numbers to which they were made, as well as the length of the calls.

The revelations provide new insight into the extent of the federal investigators' examination of people associated with the POTUS during the classified documents investigation.

The investigation eventually led to federal charges alleging Donald had unlawfully kept classified information and had obstructed attempts to recover government documents. He pleaded not guilty and consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In July 2024, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set aside the case because she decided that Jack's appointment as special counsel was unlawful.