The FBI, under President Joe Biden, subpoenaed the phone records of Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, and FBI Director Kash Patel when they were private citizens.
The subpoenas came out when Smith investigated Trump for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election and hiding classified information at Mar-a-Lago.
The most significant part of the story, which Reuters buried, is that two FBI officials said that the agency wiretapped and recorded a call between Wiles and her attorney in 2023.
The attorney supposedly consented to the FBI recording the call.
According to Marc Caputo of Axios, the lawyer denies the claim, saying he never gave permission for anyone to record the phone call.
“If I ever pulled a stunt like that I wouldn’t – and shouldn’t – have a license to practice law,” the lawyer told Caputo. “I’m as shocked as Susie.”
Wiles reportedly told people close to her that the news left her “in shock.”
It seems Wiles believes the attorney.
The lawyer representing Susie Wiles at the time of this incident categorically denies he allowed his client to be recorded by the FBI w/out her consent
I understand she believes him & that the Biden-era FBI may have lied about it
Here’s what the lawyer told me: “If I ever… https://t.co/yG9AdDc38b pic.twitter.com/sdEtR3eZ0u
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) February 26, 2026
Caputo correctly does not name the lawyer since “he and his former client believe he is being [un]fairly accused.”
I’m not printing the name of the attorney because both he and his former client believe he is being unfairly accused
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) February 26, 2026
The news is serious because it’s not the same as the tracking Smith and his cronies performed on eight Republican senators and 400 Republicans.
The tracking, known as toll analysis, only shows the who, when, and where of the communication. It does not show content.
Tapping and recording phone calls obviously reveals content.
To make matters worse, the phone call was between Wiles and her attorney.
Attorney-client privilege applies only when the attorney is acting in an attorney-client capacity, a third party is present, the parties are facilitating a crime, or confidentiality is waived. (Read more: Legal Insurrection, 2/27/2026) (Archive)
February 27, 2026 – Kash Patel fires 10 FBI staff over shady surveillance of Patel and Susie Wiles: