At the direction of FBI Director Kash Patel, at least a half-dozen agents tied to the bureau’s 2022 search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate have been fired, according to six sources familiar with the matter who spoke to NBC News. Three of those sources said the dismissals go beyond just a handful of agents, estimating that at least 10 employees overall — including support personnel, agents, and supervisors — were terminated.
The FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The firings center on one of the most politically explosive investigations in recent memory. In August 2022, federal agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, residence as part of a classified documents probe. That case later resulted in federal charges against Trump over his handling of sensitive materials found at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump also faced charges related to his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty in both cases and denied wrongdoing. A Trump-appointed federal judge ultimately dismissed the classified documents case, while special counsel Jack Smith moved to drop the election-related prosecution after Trump secured a second term in 2024.
Now, with Trump back in the White House, scrutiny has shifted to the investigators themselves.
The dismissals came the same day Patel made a striking claim: that federal authorities under the Biden administration had subpoenaed his own phone records during the Trump investigations.
“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 said Wednesday in a statement to Reuters.
NBC News reported that the FBI did not immediately share Patel’s statement, and neither the White House nor a representative for Jack Smith responded to requests for comment.
The phone records controversy is not isolated. Several Republican lawmakers said last year that their records were also obtained as part of investigative efforts.
Since Trump’s return to office, the FBI has removed multiple employees connected not only to the Mar-a-Lago case but also to the broader January 6 investigation, which resulted in hundreds of criminal charges against Capitol riot defendants. One official fired earlier in the administration, David Sundberg, has since launched a campaign for a U.S. House seat.
The firings have sparked backlash from within the bureau’s ranks. In a sharply worded statement, the FBI Agents Association condemned the dismissals related to the Mar-a-Lago probe, calling them a violation of due process.
“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 group said. It warned that stripping the bureau of experienced personnel could destabilize the workforce, undermine leadership trust, and ultimately weaken national security.
Meanwhile, Patel has drawn attention for reasons beyond internal personnel moves. He recently attended the Winter Olympics in Italy, where he was seen celebrating with the U.S. men’s hockey team after its gold medal victory over Canada. Responding to criticism on X, Patel said the team “invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys.”
As the FBI navigates leadership changes and politically sensitive investigations, the latest firings signal that the aftershocks of the Trump-era probes are still reverberating through the bureau — and the fallout may be far from over.
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