Revelations that the Biden-era FBI tracked Trump family travel and top aide Susie Wiles’ phone records received a blistering rebuke from a former top Democratic official who compared the behavior to Nixon-era abuses of federal power that surfaced amid the Watergate scandal. The FBI investigation codenamed "Plasmic Echo," later taken over by special counsel Jack Smith, examined Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified and national-defense material and possible obstruction. Records show agents tracked first lady Melania Trump's and Barron Trump’s travel while planning the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and later logged metadata from now-Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ calls with attorneys, journalists and others." Julian Epstein, the former chief counsel for the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic bench, compared the situation to the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.
JACK SMITH'S PROBE SWEPT UP FOX NEWS, OTHER MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT SOURCES "It’s hard to think of good justifications for this. To me, it feels a little Nixonian," said Epstein, who also served as staff director to Democrats on a second powerful panel, the House Oversight Committee. "If this report is true, then it's pretty bad.
If true, then those in charge at the time better have some darn good explanations for surveillance of family members and advisors talking privately to lawyers or exercising their free-speech rights with the newsmedia," he said. Nixon, a California Republican, maintained an "Enemies List" developed by White House aides around top adviser Charles Colson and later formalized by White House counsel John Dean. Dean – now a vocal critic of Republicans like Trump – once described it in a 1971 memo as intended to "use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies." Epstein questioned what legal justification investigators had for monitoring the contacts, particularly those involving lawyers and journalists.
VETERAN DEM BREAKS PARTY LINE AS JACK SMITH SPYING SCANDAL GRIPS CAPITOL HILL Epstein appeared to be among the few prominent Democrats publicly criticizing the newly disclosed investigative tactics Tuesday, including the tracking of Melania and Barron Trump’s travel and the collection of Wiles’ call metadata. SECRET PHONE-RECORD SEIZURE SPARKS PERSONAL LAWSUIT FROM GOP SENATOR Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who just months ago similarly broke party-silence to object to prior revelations from Smith’s probe.
Blumenthal told Fox News Digital in July that Republicans were right to be upset that some of their communications were subpoenaed without their notice. "I think we need to have more facts. Republicans are rightly concerned about the possible breach of norms and improper access to email," Blumenthal said at the time.
In a separate disclosure on July 14, the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee released records showing that Smith’s 2020-election investigation obtained and reviewed text messages exchanged between Trump White House officials and 44 current and former members of Congress, including Republicans and Democrats. Theo Wold, a former acting assistant U.S. attorney general under Trump who later served as Idaho’s solicitor general, said the new disclosures involving Melania, Barron and Wiles vindicate Republicans who have long warned of a so-called "Deep State." "But now we know that DOJ, the FBI, and the wider intelligence community have targeted Catholics, homeschool families, pro-life prayer warriors, and even the then-leading Republican Presidential candidate and his family," Wold said. They have abused their authority for political gain.
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