Former FBI official Rob Chadwick alleged the Department of Justice overrode senior bureau officials who believed there was no probable cause for the Mar-a-Lago raid. The documents were released by a White House transparency task force and show the operation was approved by former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. While Senator Mike Lee has called the activity "political persecution," a separate White House report suggests that surveillance footage of an aide moving storage boxes provided the necessary legal grounds for the search.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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FBI Tracked Melania and Barron Trump's Travel to Time Mar-a-Lago Raid
US Politics9 days ago
Declassified emails and memos reveal federal agents monitored the aviation schedules of Melania and Barron Trump to coordinate the August 2022 search of the former president's Florida home. The records also describe a "tickle the wire" operation under the "Plasmic Echo" probe, where the FBI tracked then-campaign manager Susie Wiles' phone activity in real time immediately after her interview to identify contacts. This surveillance of Wiles logged calls to 21 defense attorneys and 5 journalists from February to May 2023, targeting routing data such as call durations and timestamps.
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