Embattled FBI Director Kash Patel has gone on a revenge-fueled firing spree after “alarming” revelations that his and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ phones were under subpoena in a previous probe by the agency.
Patel terminated at least 10 employees connected with the investigation into Donald Trump’s illegal storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, four people briefed on the matter told CNN.
The FBI used subpoenas to obtain the communication records of Patel and Wiles during a 2022-2023 probe that eventually came under the leadership of Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The firings come amid what is essentially the bureau’s internal investigation of its own investigators, according to CNN.
In a statement, Patel lashed out at the work of the agency before he became its director in February 2025.
“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,” Patel, 46, said Wednesday.
The FBI Agents Association opposed Patel’s 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 association said in a statement to CNN.
“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.”
A grand jury charged Trump and two associates in the classified documents case. The charges against the president were thrown out in July 2024 by Judge Aileen Cannon, who made the determination that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.
Earlier this week, Cannon, who made a series of Trump-friendly decisions in the case, blocked Smith’s full report from being released to the public.
In the indictment, Trump was accused of 40 felony counts, including violating the Espionage Act, making false statements, and conspiring to obstruct investigators.
Patel’s firings are part of an effort to push out agents who worked on Trump-related investigations.
Shortly after Trump took office again, CNN reported that the FBI had given to the Justice Department a list of 5,000 agents who worked on Jan. 6-related investigations. Around that time, some FBI agents who feared retaliation sued to try to prevent the Justice Department from making such lists.
Patel claimed during his confirmation hearing that “all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted last September that Trump’s Inauguration Day pledge—“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents”—was still being adhered to.
“It is not weaponizing the Department of Justice to demand accountability for those who weaponized the Department of Justice, and nobody knows what that looks like more than President Trump,” she claimed.
The FBI declined to comment to the Daily Beast.
