Declassified FBI Memos Show Agents Tracked Trump Family Travel and Logged Wiles' Call Records During Mar-a-Lago Probe

The White House Government Transparency Task Force released a batch of declassified FBI memos Monday detailing a 2022 investigation codenamed "Plasmic Echo," the classified-documents probe that led to the Mar-a-Lago search and was later absorbed into special counsel Jack Smith's investigation.

The documents show FBI agents, while planning the August 2022 search warrant, worked to pin down the travel schedules of Melania and Barron Trump. A pre-raid checklist instructed agents to "finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son's travel (type of aircraft and specific timeline)," according to records reported by Fox News Digital and Just the News. One internal document dated June 1, 2022 stated the warrant "would be served after the former President departs Mar a Lago."

The records also show that after the raid, investigators obtained call detail records tied to Susie Wiles' phone, now the White House chief of staff. Ground News, citing the documents, reported the tool used was a pen register, which captures numbers dialed, call times and durations, not the content of conversations. Ground News reported the logged contacts included at least 21 people connected to Trump, including lawyers, campaign advisers and journalists.

A Legal Distinction Worth Getting Right

Some coverage has blurred that distinction. A report circulated by Jingle Tree described the FBI as having "tapped" Wiles' phone and said Attorney General Merrick Garland "signed off the wiretaps," even though the same account describes a records-only collection tool. A pen register and a wiretap are not the same thing under federal law. A wiretap captures conversation content and requires a much higher legal showing. A pen register collects metadata and is authorized under a lower relevance standard. Readers should not come away thinking anyone's calls were recorded or listened to, because the documents cited across every source describe metadata collection only.

Who Approved It

The memos lay out a clear chain of sign-off. In March 2022, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray sought approval from the Justice Department to open what is termed a "Sensitive Investigative Matter." Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco recommended approval, initialing "LM," and Garland signed off, according to Just the News, which was co-reported by John Solomon and Steven Richards.

A separate Wray memo flagged that the probe could reach senior figures from Trump's administration and warned it "could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election." Wray recommended moving forward anyway, writing by hand, "Merrick, I recomend you approve. CW.," according to the documents.

Internal Dissent at the FBI

Notably, the records show the investigation wasn't unanimous inside the bureau. Ground News and Just the News both reported that a senior official at the FBI's Washington Field Office counterintelligence unit raised concerns that the bureau lacked probable cause for a Mar-a-Lago search warrant and wanted to pursue a less invasive option. The Justice Department sought and obtained the warrant regardless. That internal pushback is itself evidence the system has built-in checks, even if those checks were ultimately overruled by DOJ leadership rather than empowered to stop the search.

What's Proven, What's Alleged

What's documented: agents tracked the Trump family's travel ahead of the raid, collected metadata on Wiles' calls afterward, and senior DOJ officials approved the underlying investigation despite an internal warning about its political timing and at least one field office's doubts about probable cause.

What's not established in these records: that the surveillance was illegal, or that any specific person directed it as a deliberate political operation rather than standard investigative practice applied to a high-profile target. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called the operation "a disgraceful abuse of government power" and said "those responsible must be held accountable," but no charges, indictment, or formal misconduct finding has been announced against Wray, Garland, Monaco or Smith over this specific matter. Smith, Garland, Wray and Monaco had not issued statements on the record responding to Monday's release as of this writing.

The release lands a week after Smith's contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over a separate 2020-election probe, "Arctic Frost," in which Fox News reported Smith's team obtained phone records tied to Republican senators, prompting Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to sue. The two investigations are legally distinct but together have fueled renewed congressional interest in how the Biden Justice Department authorized surveillance touching defense lawyers, journalists and elected officials. Whether that interest produces a formal DOJ Inspector General review or further hearings remains an open question.