President Joe Biden is alleged to have overseen spying of Susie Wiles, a former lobbyist who now serves as President Donald Trump's chief of staff. On Thursday Republicans officially blasted the Democrats for the scandal — with one senator suggesting it might be time to get rid of the FBI.
"Newly released documents reveal the extent of the FBI’s monitoring of President Donald Trump’s now-chief of staff Susie Wiles, showing investigators tracked phone metadata reflecting her contacts with attorneys, journalists, campaign officials, Trump Organization personnel and Secret Service contacts," wrote Fox News' Ashley J. DiMella on Thursday.
"Documents released Monday by the White House detail 'Plasmic Echo,' the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and other presidential records that led to the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a Lago and later included possible obstruction of the investigation," she added. "The records show the FBI tracked Wiles’ phone activity from at least February through May 2023, cataloging who called her, whom she called, when the calls occurred and how long they lasted."
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) suggested that this news story about Biden's FBI spying on Wiles justifies potentially eliminating the bureau entirely.
"Not sure how the FBI survives this," Lee wrote. "Or whether it should. Maybe it’s time to start over."
"Unbelievable," Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) posted on X. "This makes Watergate look like child’s play. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I’ll be requesting that the Chairman hold a hearing on this immediately."
The House Majority Whip, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), wrote "cc: The Fake News Why aren’t you talking about this? Biden’s FBI spent months secretly tracking Susie Wiles’ phone, logging calls with lawyers, journalists, campaign aides, and even Secret Service. The Democrats are CROOKS!"
Elected GOP officials were not alone in dogpiling on Democrats. Jared Wise, a former Jan. 6th defendant and Justice Department employee, argued on X that "the abuse of J6 defendants is at least 1000x whatever happened here, but not a single person in the DC uni-party establishment has the courage to look."
He added, "History will show the J6 persecutions to be among the greatest civil rights violations in US history, and the people currently running DC to be among the most cowardly."
Some offered a contrasting take, arguing that the outrage was overblown.
Journalist John Harwood posted on X, "fake outrage intended to fool those who don't know any better."
Wiles has long been regarded as one of the more level-headed members of Trump's staff, staying on board to manage his Oval Office even after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
