FBI Investigated Susie Wiles and Kash Patel Phone Records, Secretly Recording Wiles Conversations with Her Lawyer in 2022 and 2023


Posted originally on CTH on February 26, 2026 | Sundance 

According to media reports and statements from FBI Director Kash Patel, both Patel and Susie Wiles had their telephone records subpoenaed by the FBI in 2022 and 2023 when both were private citizens. This is during the time when Donald Trump was being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Within the reporting by Reuters, at least one phone call between Susie Wiles and her attorney was recorded by the FBI without her knowledge. As the story is outlined Wiles’ attorney was working with the FBI and knew the conversation was being captured, Wiles did not.

FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly fired 10 FBI agents who were involved in the process of reviewing and intercepting communications as part of their work on the Jack Smith case. Internal FBI offices are not happy with Patel’s action against those officials.

(REUTERS) – The FBI subpoenaed records of phone calls made by Kash Patel and Susie Wiles, now the FBI director and White House Chief of Staff, when they were both private citizens in 2022 and 2023 during the federal probe of Donald Trump, Patel told Reuters on Wednesday.

Reuters is the first to report on the FBI’s actions that took place during the Biden administration, largely when Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating whether Trump had interfered with the 2020 election and had hidden classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to Patel. Smith was appointed to take over that probe in November 2022.

[…] “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 in a statement to Reuters.

[…] At least 10 current FBI employees have been dismissed as a result of the revelations about the targeting of Patel, Wiles and others connected to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to three FBI officials.

[…] In 2023, the FBI recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney, according to two FBI officials. Wiles’ attorney was aware that the call was being recorded, and consented to it, but Susie Wiles was not.

[…] The FBI discovered the phone records in files categorized as “Prohibited,” which makes them difficult to discover on the bureau’s computer systems. Patel said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as “Prohibited.” (read more)

I have mixed emotions about this.  On one hand it is infuriating to yet again see the audacity and clear weaponization of the DOJ and FBI under the prior administration.  On the other hand, duh! Non-pretending people knew all along this malicious network of DOJ and FBI lawfare operations included surveillance of everyone around President Donald Trump.

Remember, Donald Trump was accused of criminal wrongdoing by the twisted lawfare logic of Smith and his crew.  Accepting the reality of a criminal investigation, fraudulent though it was, it was entirely predictable that the DOJ and FBI would leverage all available tools to conduct continued surveillance and monitoring.

The secondary frustrating aspect to this story is how Director Patel has only just now fired those 10 FBI agents involved.  This is a big part of the criticism that many of us have with Patel and his soft glove approach upon taking the position as FBI Director.

Any FBI official who was involved in the originating Crossfire Hurricane and/or Robert Mueller investigations should have been fired for cause on Day One!  40 FBI agents worked for more than two years on the Mueller probe investigating a fictitious claim about President Trump colluding with Russia in the 2016 election.

Those FBI agents should have been identified and terminated immediately, with prejudice; thereby sending a loud message that weaponized FBI activity was the immediate focus of the new leadership and would not be tolerated.

Yes, it’s good to see a few dozen being removed bit-by-bit a year later, but the lack of urgency IN IDENTIFYING THE FBI BAD ACTORS early on only makes the situation more difficult for other cabinet members who are genuinely trying to weed out the corrupt and nefarious activity.  I know this, because I can see first-hand how so much of the intelligence community reform energy is being expended defending itself from silo activity fueled by these corrupt FBI embeds.

A year has been wasted on weak internal housecleaning, and Director Kash Patel still does not have his arms around the scale of corrupt activity underneath him; if he did, these stories would not be the headlines.

Patel just removed 10 agents who were investigating him. Great.  Thank you.

Now, about the thousands of corrupt agents who were investigating everyone else…. Oh wait, “prohibited access files ” again.  May 2025:

Important Note from Chuck Grassley’s Release Yesterday!

The FBI intentionally hid information as to ensure the public never knew about it?

Think about what that indicates about how the institution operates.

REFORM? …Try this.

#1) Send out an email to every field office, agent, division and contractor within the FBI asking every participant in Crossfire Hurricane or the Mueller investigation to report to the auditorium in DC on XXX date.

#2) Have big buffet and coffee set up. Now, with all of them seated in the audience, take their cell phones, laptops and electronic devices away, and give each of them a piece of paper and ask them to write down the names of every single person they interacted with during their investigative duty. Give them one hour to complete the task.

#3) Retrieve their notes. Send them to lunch (provided), as you review the lists. [Cell phones, laptops and electronic devices remain on side of the room where they placed them.]

#4) When they return, tell them all to stand up as you read the names from the lists. As their name is called, they can sit down.

#5) At the conclusion of reading the list, almost everyone should be seated, correct? Those who remain standing are unknown to the FBI investigators in the room. Tell those standing people to leave and assemble in an adjacent room, under watch.

#6) After the small group departs (if any), ask these questions:

A) If you were aware, or if you suspected, you were participating in a fraudulent investigation motivated by politics, please stand up.

=> Announce those people are fired for cause. Fired for violating their oath of office.

Escort them out.

Turn back to those remain seated.

A) If you *DID NOT KNOW* you were participating in a fraudulent FBI investigation, motivated by politics, please stand up.

=> Announce those people are fired for cause. Fired for not being smart enough to carry out their oath of office.

Escort them out.

The room should be empty.

#7) Wait, one more final detail. Perhaps you now have an adjacent room with a person(s) that no one in the FBI knows, nor understands exactly what they were doing there at the meeting. These people were not named on any list created by the FBI employees who conducted “Crossfire Hurricane” or the “Mueller probe.”  Well, that’s the CIA plant(s) in the room.

{Stands off Soapbox}

EU Schedules Permanent Ban on Russian Import Oil for Three Days After Hungarian Election


Posted originally on CTH on February 24, 2026 | Sundance

I guess we can put this in the open admission file surrounding the all-out effort by the European Union to defeat Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

According to a leaked document received by Reuters, the European Union is scheduled to permanently ban all EU nations from importing Russian oil.  They have scheduled the ban to trigger on April 15th, three days after the Hungarian election.

BRUSSELS, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The European Commission will submit a legal proposal to permanently ban Russian oil imports on April 15, three days after Hungary’s parliamentary election, according to EU officials and a document seen by Reuters.

Two EU officials told Reuters the timing was designed to prevent the oil ban becoming a major factor in Hungary’s election campaign. Hungary and Slovakia, still reliant on Russian oil imports, are strongly opposed to any ban.

In the April 12 election, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his nationalist Fidesz party are facing the biggest challenge to their hold on power in 16 years.

The EU has already imposed sanctions on imports of seaborne Russian oil. But it wants to enshrine a full phase-out of Russian oil in legislation that would remain in place, even if a peace deal in the Ukraine war led to the EU lifting sanctions.

The Commission plans to propose the Russian oil ban on April 15, according to a draft agenda seen by Reuters.

Asked about the matter, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters the EU executive’s agendas were provisional and that it did not have a confirmed timeline for submitting the proposal. (read more)

Ukraine (EU) Strikes Russian Oil Pumping Station that Transmits Oil into Hungary and Slovakia


Posted originally on CTH on February 24, 2026 | Sundance

The Ukraine military, technically and non-pretendingly accepted as the EU military, has targeted a key oil pumping station in Russia that feeds into the westerly directed oil supply.  However, if you stand back from the western media, what you will notice from this attack is not the target in Russia, but the customers at the end of the pipeline in Europe, mainly Hungary and Slovakia.

[…] Through local stations, including infrastructure around Kaleykino, oil from Tatarstan and neighboring regions feeds into the main pipeline, which runs through the Samara region and continues westward toward Belarus and further to countries in Eastern and Central Europe. […] There were also earlier reports that Ukrainian forces carried out several attacks on Druzhba pipeline infrastructure inside Russia, which at times disrupted Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. {source}

So, what’s going on here?

Well, with the anniversary of the Russian Federation beginning the war into Ukraine, the Europeans who now control the military operations inside Ukraine are targeting European countries who do not align with their bloodlust, specifically Hungary and Slovakia.

Both Hungary and Slovakia are land locked countries without easy access seaports. Because of their geographic locations, they rely on Russian oil and gas for their energy needs.  Hungary and Slovakia have not wanted to expand the war against Russia.  The EU is demanding Hungary and Slovakia agree to expanded war.

The European ‘coalition of the willing’ is now targeting key Russian infrastructure that supplies energy products to European countries who are not in compliance with the EU dictates of war.

Putin says threats to energy pipelines sabotage peace process with Ukraine.

In his televised speech, the Russian president also accused Ukraine of threatening Russian energy ⁠pipelines with ⁠the help of Western intelligence agencies. He claimed these attacks were aimed to sabotage the peace process.

Putin ⁠also stressed it ⁠was vital for Russia ⁠to strengthen the defence of energy ‌infrastructure and other strategic sectors. {source}

This is why Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Hungary and Slovakia last week.

Essentially, now we see European leaders attacking their own European “allies” through the use of Ukraine.  If you do not support the continued bloodlust, you are an enemy of the EU collective hive mind.

A picture is worth a thousand words….

President Trump Holds Impromptu Presser Aboard Airforce One – Obama Released Classified Information


Posted originally on CTH on February 19, 2026 | Sundance 

Apparently when President Barack H Obama said that Aliens were real, his opinion was party based on classified “classified intelligence material.”  As noted by President Trump earlier today, he may have to declassify material related to the statements of Obama in order to protect him from prosecution…

.

Strong Possibility of SCOTUS Ruling on President Trump IEEPA Tariffs – Friday, Tuesday or Wednesday


Posted originally on CTH on February 18, 2026 | Sundance 

The high court has indicated it will be releasing opinions on one or more of the previously argued cases on Friday February 20, Tuesday Feb 24, or Wednesday Feb 25.  The decision over tariffs triggered by President Trump using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is one of the decisions now considered highly likely to surface.

If the decision doesn’t come this Friday, a rather interesting situation unfolds.  The following week falls into the Tuesday Feb 24 State of the Union address.

Typically, several Supreme Court justices sit in front row of the House floor during the speech.  The decision could be released on the morning of the speech, or justices could actually sit in the audience – knowing the outcome and the morning after the State of the Union address, the ruling could be released.

Now, there is a possibility the ruling will not come out in this cycle, but that is diminishing possibility considering the length of time the Supreme Court has sat on this opinion.

The court knows the importance of this decision, and they obviously know the State of the Union speech is scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday the 24th.  This will be an interesting dynamic to watch unfold.

Disinformation Board Member Jennifer Daskal Appointed as FISA Court Advisor


Posted originally on CTH on February 17, 2026 | Sundance 

A good catch by Chuck Ross at WFB drawing attention to the latest Amici curiae appointed to the FISA Court.

Adding to a string of leftist ‘advisors to the court’ Jennifer Daskal has been appointed by FISA Court Presiding Judge Anthony Trenga.

Daskal was the Biden administration principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security who launched the Disinformation Governance Board (Ministry of Truth) ultimately led by Nina Jankowicz.

Jennifer Daskal’s career has centers around controlling information from a leftist perspective and was one of the core officials who used the term dis-mis-mal-information to censor speech on social media platforms around COVID-19 and the vaccination protocol.

Daskal’s reach and control into big tech and social media is well documented. Appointing her as an advisor to the FISA court is troubling as she has joined Amy Jeffress, appointed amicus curiae in 2015 (Biden’s personal attorney), David Kris, a 2016 amicus curiae selection (denied Carter Page FISA application contained fabrications), and the infamous Mary McCord appointed amicus curiae in 2021 (sits at the center of every stop-Trump operation).

Washington Free Beacon – A Biden administration official who launched the Disinformation Governance Board and served as co-chair of the so-called Ministry of Truth has been appointed to advise the powerful Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, prompting concerns from some Republican lawmakers.

The presiding judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review appointed Jennifer Daskal on Feb. 1 to serve as amicus curiae for the court. Amici curiae, known as “friends of the court,” advise judges on legal issues related to foreign surveillance warrants in national security cases. Daskal served as acting principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security under Biden. In that role, she drafted the charter for the Disinformation Governance Board, according to a Jan. 31, 2022 memo. (read more)

[SOURCE]

Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein


Posted originally on CTH on February 16, 2026 | Sundance 

Through the years I didn’t really have much of an opinion of Steve Bannon, I approached any story of interest that surrounded him by simply looking at the factual details of the current event in question.

CTH well understood that Bannon, and subsequently his expressed opinion and objective, was simply an outcome of his position – downstream from the billionaire of the moment who paid him.

In essence, Steve Bannon always seemed to be, much like Kellyanne Conway, an advocate for whoever was financing him. From Robert/Rebekah Mercer at Breitbart forward to any endeavor thereafter, it always just appeared the same.

That said, with the release of the Epstein files, the relationship between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein is something CTH did not expect. {HERE} Bannon and Epstein were very close and talked to each other about seemingly everything.

I can never unsee what I have read.  Nor will CTH ever entertain the possibility that Bannon was ever a good element within the MAGA effort.  There is a solid argument to be made that the Bannon War Room was funded, or organized in the funding mechanisms, by Jeffrey Epstein. {HERE}

The files of messages between them contain some shocking stuff happening in the background while Steve Bannon was in very close proximity to candidate and President Trump.  The level of disdain Bannon had for Donald Trump’s family and for Donald Trump himself is really something CTH did not expect to see. {examples: HERE and HERE}

I am left to wonder now how much of the vitriol against Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, ie. “Javanka hatred”, actually originated from the Braintrust behind Bannon and the assembly of people in his immediate orbit. {HERE}

Initially, I saw some Twitter accounts attempt to defend Steve Bannon by saying Epstein did all the talking in their text exchanges and Bannon was less communicative. However, that only applied to the first batches of files reviewed.  As a few days went along and people started citing files, reading them gives a much more fulsome picture of the relationship.

Steve Bannon may have been focused on the financial gains and perhaps networks of people in his association with Epstein; but he certainly got deep into it and expressed extreme praise for Epstein, even going so far as to call him a god. {LINK} These were two men in a very close friendship. There is no political or ideological distance between Bannon and Epstein.

The level of expressed skullduggery that has been going on for years in the background is very unsettling to accept, and I say that as a person who doesn’t customarily get shocked by duplicity.

This is not about division; this is about something more akin to betrayal.

While putting on a MAGA face for the War Room broadcasts, in the background Bannon was actually plotting and advising of ways to eliminate Donald Trump from republican politics.  This is Brutus level disloyalty, even accepting the guy has no moral compass other than his bank account.  I can never unsee what has been seen.

There’s also some weird stuff in the exchanges about contextual things from years past.  As an example, in one set of text messages Bannon and Epstein were discussing Patrick Byrne who is now part of the Emerald Robinson/Mike Flynn network.  Bannon notes in 2018 that Byrne told him he was working for the CIA, and apparently Bannon did not believe him. {SOURCE}

[SOURCE]

This is the same November, 2018, message exchange where Epstein is advising Steve Bannon on how to set up a media network to maximize privacy, structure the financing and eliminate the problems with transparency.  This is the origin of what would less than a year later become Bannon’s War Room on Real Voice America.

Did Jeffrey Epstein provide the seed capital to assist the start-up of Bannon’s War Room?  That question isn’t clear, but sheesh, the creepy irony of the possibility is really over-the-top.

I guess in the big scheme of things, considering all of the potential creepy stuff that is far more consequential to the Epstein file release, the relationship with Steve Bannon is not at the top of the issues of concern.  However, the reality of seeing this relationship and reading how much they both hated MAGA is just so darn deflating.

Trust lost can never be reestablished.

Ugh.  All of it. Just, ugh.

Now we reevaluate everyone who openly, frequently and willingly associated themselves with Steve Bannon on that “War Room” platform. Including: Julie Kelly, Mike Davis, Jack Posobiec, Lara Logan, John Solomon, Laura Loomer, Harmeet Dhillon and so many more.  Did they know about this Bannon-Epstein network?

Thomas Massie Accuses Four Random, Innocent Men of Being Pedophiles and Sex Traffickers, Because Their Names Appeared in Epstein Files


Posted originally on CTH on February 14, 2026 | Sundance

Political operatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna have never mentioned the name Katheryn Ruemmler despite her name appearing thousands of times in emails within the Epstein files.   Yet both Massie and Khanna went out of their way to publicly claim they forced the DOJ to release the names of four men they accused of being sex traffickers and pedophiles.

Massie was very proud of his efforts to discover the names and force the DOJ to unredact them.  As Massie proclaimed, continuously: if President Trump and the DOJ did not publicly unredact the names, it would be proof that President Trump and the DOJ were protecting pedophiles and sex traffickers.

After holding their joint press conference, Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna then went to the House of Representatives to proclaim (1) Salvatore Nuara, (2) Zurab Mikeladze, (3) Leonid Leonov and (4) Nicola Caputo were sexual deviants, pedophiles and much worse. They were horrible men who had abused underage girls.

…. Except, there was a problem. A BIG PROBLEM.

Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonid Leonov and Nicola Caputo had absolutely nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein or anything even remotely associated with Jeffrey Epstein. [SEE HERE]

The names Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonid Leonov and Nicola Caputo were in the Epstein files because they were random pictures of men, random passport pictures, used in a photo lineup during questioning of one of Epstein’s victims.

Thanks to the ‘HE’S A WITCH” hunting efforts of Massie and Khanna, four random guys who never new anything about the DOJ or the FBI, or Jeffrey Epstein or anything else even remotely in that orbit, were labeled as sex criminals and horrific people.

Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonid Leonov, and Nicola Caputo did not know they were in the Epstein files and did not know their pictures were ever used by the FBI.  Their random passport photographs were used in an FBI lineup to question witnesses, that’s it. But thanks to Ro Khanna and the political efforts of Thomas Massie, they were wrongly labeled.

Khanna and Massie now claim it’s not their fault.  If the DOJ had just redacted the names of the innocent men, there never would have been a problem.  Except, that’s the problem… They were innocent and their names were redacted because they were innocent; but that wasn’t good enough for Massie and Khanna who used the redactions as evidence of a cover-up, and when the redactions were forcibly removed, Massie and Khanna now claim the names should have been redacted.

Inquisitor Massie: We should dunk her, if she floats, she is a witch, if she drowns, she is innocent!

Thomas Massie’s objective with his lead position on the Epstein stuff, is to defeat MAGA and return control of the Republican party to the professional Republican elites (GOPe/Bush clan).

This is the same Sea Island agenda. They are actively working to best position their preferred and controlled leader, Ron DeSantis. If the GOPe get DeSantis moved into position, they will regain control. The problem is MAGA.

The useful Republicans are exploiting the Epstein stuff to accomplish this objective. Simultaneously, they are promoting as much division as possible (Israel vs Qatar) in order to fracture the MAGA assemblies. It’s structurally easy to see it, when you understand the goal.

Ask yourself this basic, commonsense question: If you tear down President Donald Trump, who benefits?

There’s your answer to that sense; to that sensibility trying to reconcile questions; to the intuition you have.

The Subject was Kushner – More Details Surface About Subject of Intel Gossip Underneath Ridiculous Whistleblower Claim Against DNI


Posted originally on CTH on February 13, 2026 | Sundance

It’s a strange time within the Intelligence Community. You can tell it’s all in flux when you see the New York Times giving a version of the story that is positive toward DNI Tulsi Gabbard, and the Wall Street Journal continuing with debunked/fake information still trying to get DNI Tulsi Gabbard removed.

The New York Times version appears to be the most truthful, factual and cited. It also makes the most sense.

In essence, two foreign nationals were having a phone call about Iran and discussing Jared Kushner’s role and influence in the policy of Trump toward Iran. The phone call was intercepted by a foreign intelligence agency, who then relayed their interpretation of the discussion to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

NEW YORK TIMES – […] It was a discussion last year between two foreign nationals about Iran, not an unusual topic for American spies to study. But an intercept of that communication, collected by a foreign spy service and given to the United States.

[…] Mr. Kushner’s name was redacted in the original report from the National Security Agency, but people reading it, including the whistle-blower, were able to determine that the reference was to him.

[…] The foreign nationals, they said, were commenting on Mr. Kushner’s influence with the Trump administration. At a time last year when Mr. Kushner’s role in Middle East peace talks was less public than it is now, the foreign officials were recorded saying that he was the person to speak to in order to influence the talks.

[…] The intercept also included what officials described as “gossip” or speculation about Mr. Kushner that was not supported by other intelligence.

[…] The whistle-blower report was based on a telephone intercept provided to the N.S.A. from a foreign intelligence service. Intercepts are notoriously difficult to interpret. 

[…] The whistle-blower, an intelligence official whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, said Ms. Gabbard’s actions improperly limited who could see the report.

[…] Some administration critics, who have reviewed the report and have considered the underlying intelligence to be significant, also agreed that Ms. Gabbard did not act improperly by restricting distribution of the report. (more)

Democrats (administration critics) agreed that DNI Gabbard did not act improperly.

If it was possible to tell the identity of the U.S. person (aka Kushner) simply by reading the intel report, and this report is simply gossip by two other people talking about a U.S. person, then yes, duh – the report should be secured and not spread.

This story becomes more of a nothingburger each time new information is leaked.

Kathryn Ruemmler Out at Goldman Sachs as Scale of Relationship with Epstein Gains Attention


Posted originally on CTH on February 13, 2026 | Sundance 

Former White House legal counsel/fixer to Barack Obama, and former personal lawyer/fixer of Susan Rice, Kathryn Ruemmler was Chief Legal Counsel for Goldman Sachs for the past six years.

Throughout those jobs and networked professional relationships, Kathryn Ruemmler was also a personal friend and advisor to Jeffrey Epstein.

Yesterday it was reported that Kathryn Ruemmler has resigned from Goldman Sachs.

NEW YORK – Goldman Sachs’s top lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, resigned on Thursday in the wake of the Justice Department’s release of emails and other material that revealed her extensive relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier.

Ms. Ruemmler and representatives for Goldman said for years that she had a strictly professional relationship with Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender. But emails, text messages and photographs released late last month upended that narrative, leading to Ms. Ruemmler’s sudden resignation, which surprised many inside the firm.

Before joining Goldman in 2020, Ms. Ruemmler was a counselor, confidante and friend to Mr. Epstein, the documents showed. She advised him on how to respond to tough questions about his sex crimes, discussed her dating life, advised him on how to avoid unflattering media scrutiny and addressed him as “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey.”

Mr. Epstein, in turn, provided career advice on her move to Goldman, introduced her to well-known businesspeople and showered her with gifts of spa treatments, high-end travel and Hermes luxury items. In total, Ms. Ruemmler was mentioned in more than 10,000 of the documents released by the Justice Department.

Ms. Ruemmler, in addition to being Goldman’s general counsel since 2021, was a partner and vice chair of its reputational risk committee. She earlier served as White House counsel under President Obama and was a white-collar defense lawyer at Latham & Watkins. (read more)