Newly declassified documents released by the White House on Monday show that FBI agents monitored the travel of First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron while preparing the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, part of an investigation that later came under the direction of special counsel Jack Smith.
The records, tied to a probe code-named “Plasmic Echo,” also show the Bureau obtained call records belonging to now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, capturing details of calls involving defense lawyers, campaign advisers and journalists. The documents indicate agents collected call metadata — information about when and to whom calls were placed — rather than the contents of the conversations themselves.
According to the documents, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray sent then-Attorney General Merrick Garland a memo in May 2022 warning that the sensitive investigation could reach top figures from the Trump administration and “could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election.” Wray nonetheless recommended approval, writing by hand at the bottom of the memo: “Merrick, I recommend you approve. CW.” Garland signed off on the surveillance on that recommendation.
Smith was not yet special counsel when the Mar-a-Lago search took place in August 2022, but he took over the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents soon afterward.
The disclosures add new detail to an investigation that has drawn sustained criticism from Trump allies over the scope of surveillance directed at people in Trump’s orbit, now extending beyond aides and lawmakers to members of his immediate family.
