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Biden-era FBI tracked Melania and teenage Barron's travel and targeted Susie Wiles' phone in bombshell Trump probe

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Cite

Raasch, J. M. (2026, October 5). Biden-era FBI tracked Melania and teenage Barron's travel and targeted Susie Wiles' phone in bombshell Trump probe. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16185297/Biden-era-FBI-tracked-Melania-teenage-Barrons-travel-targeted-Susie-Wiles-phone-bombshell-Trump-probe.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-05 · by Jon Michael Raasch

Quick Summary

Newly released documents reveal that during Joe Biden's presidency, the FBI monitored former First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron’s travel as part of Jack Smith’s investigation into classified document handling at Mar-a-Lago. The bureau also tapped the phone of Susie Wiles, who was then heading Trump’s political operation in Palm Beach. This surveillance was codenamed 'Plasmic Echo' and included tracking the family's movements to prepare for a raid on August 8, 2022. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis criticized this as an abuse of government power.
Written by AI on 2026-10-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Biden-era FBI tracked Melania Trump and her teenage son Barron Trump's travel, and monitored phone calls of Susie Wiles, who was then the head of Trump's political operation in Palm Beach. The investigation, codenamed "Plasmic Echo," examined whether Donald Trump improperly retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office. Agents logged metadata from Wiles' calls with attorneys, journalists, and others without recording conversation contents, spanning from February to May 2023. This surveillance was part of a broader probe into potential obstruction by Trump's inner circle, drawing comparisons to Nixon-era abuses by a former top Democratic official.

Written for “FBI Trump Family Surveillance” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 FBI Trump Family Surveillance
Crime & Law · 4 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 26% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Fox News
⚖️ Leans right Hedges 1 of 5 claims Outlet record 69/100
Fox News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 31 claims Outlet record 69/100
Fox News
Hedges 3 of 30 claims Outlet record 69/100
“While both articles discuss the FBI's surveillance activities during the Trump document probe, they describe different aspects and timeframes of the investigation.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
26%
5 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
68/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 8501 article(s) · 20 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 20 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Jon Michael Raasch
46 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Jon Michael Raasch
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 46 articles by Jon Michael Raasch →

Topics

FBI Republican Washington White House the White House

Subjects

FBI ORG · 11× Trump PERSON · 7× Smith PERSON · 4× Barron Trump PERSON · 2× Biden PERSON · 2× Joe Biden PERSON · 2× Melania PERSON · 2× White House ORG · 2× Wiles PERSON · 2× the White House ORG · 2×

Narrative

First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron Trump had their movements tracked by the FBI under former President Joe Biden as the agency prepared to raid their family home in 2022 The White House released documents today about the Biden administration's operation 'Plasmic Echo' which involved the Trump family '
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-05
🔮 The files, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, included an email exchange between FBI agents in May 2022 regarding surveillance of the Trump family, including Melania and Barron.

Claims (19 extracted, 5 hedged)

- Sign up HERE to our DC Insider newsletter - your guide to what's rocking Washington, rattling the White House and setting tongues wagging on the Hill Former President Joe Biden's FBI monitored Melania and Barron Trump's travel and tapped Donald Trump's future right-hand-woman's phone, according to newly released documents. uncertain
FBI → sign → documents
The cache of personal information was part of former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into whether Trump illegally withheld classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after concluding his presidential first term. asserted
Trump → withhold → term
While investigating the president, Smith's team traced the Trump family's movements while the FBI determined when to raid the president's home. asserted
FBI → investigate → home
Eventually, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. asserted
FBI → raid → August
That year, in the aftermath of the raid, the FBI began wiretapping the phone of future White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. asserted
FBI → begin → Wiles
At that time, Wiles was the head of Trump's political operation being run out of Palm Beach. asserted
Wiles → run → Beach
The FBI's secret surveillance probe into the family and close associates of Trump was called 'Plasmic Echo,' according to the recently released files. uncertain
probe → call → files
The files, released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, included an email exchange between FBI agents in May 2022 regarding surveillance of the Trump family, including Melania and Barron. uncertain
files → release → Melania
'Finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel (type of aircraft and specific timeline),' wrote one agent whose identity was redacted. asserted
identity → finalize → aircraft
First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron Trump had their movements tracked by the FBI under former President Joe Biden as the agency prepared to raid their family home in 2022 The White House released documents today about the Biden administration's operation 'Plasmic Echo' which involved the Trump family ' asserted
which → have → family
Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple,' White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement. asserted
Bis → spy → statement
'Those responsible must be held accountable.' asserted
Those → hold → ?
The classified documents case was eventually thrown out after a judge found that Smith was unlawfully appointed to become special counsel by Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland. asserted
Smith → throw → General
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly advised Garland to sign off on the wiretaps. uncertain
Wray → advise → wiretaps
In a May 2022 memo to Garland, the former FBI boss wrote that the probe could include top Trumpworld officials, and “could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election. uncertain
probe → write → election
' 'Merrick, I recommend you approve,' Wray, who served under Trump during the Republican's first term, wrote. asserted
who → recommend → term
The released files also show numerous FBI-recorded call logs they got from Wiles' phone. asserted
they → release → phone
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee recently sued Smith for accessing her phone records around the time of the 2020 election. asserted
Blackburn → sue → election
Blackburn and various other GOP lawmakers have accused Smith of unlawfully accessing their phone records during his search for evidence that the president subverted the 2020 election. asserted
president → accuse → election
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