{"id":5985,"date":"2026-07-15T18:35:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985"},"modified":"2026-07-15T18:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:35:53","slug":"exclusive-officials-asked-to-turn-over-phones-at-the-white-house-as-wiles-patel-lead-intensifying-leak-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>\n            Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump\u2019s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One \u2013 with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.\n    <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5983\">The House voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Here\u2019s what\u2019s next<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            Trump had fumed over disclosures about the new plane, sources said, and his government quickly stood up an intense leak probe that roiled the government. As the investigation unfolded, at least one federal agency emailed employees warning that if they were contacted by outside agencies requesting information and devices, they needed to immediately contact their own agency\u2019s attorneys, one source told CNN.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The sources said Patel \u2014 who had been preparing to travel to Chicago \u2014 was diverted to the White House on Friday to take a hands-on role in running the probe, which became public early the next morning when the New York Times reported that the Justice Department had issued subpoenas to four of its journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding the new plane.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Patel posted up in an office next to Wiles\u2019 for roughly seven hours, as the two established what one source referred to as a \u201cwar room\u201d in the West Wing.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In addition to asking for cell phones, investigators sought information from those who were traveling with Trump or had a role in the trip, including officials across various agencies. Not all officials who were asked to turn over their devices did so, one of the sources told CNN.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The effort reflects the extent to which the White House was willing to exert control over a law enforcement investigation \u2014 a significant breach of the Justice Department\u2019s historic independence, though one that has become somewhat common in Trump\u2019s administration. CNN has previously reported that Trump also talked with Patel on the phone about the leak investigation.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            CNN has reached out to the White House and FBI for comment.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Journalists and free press advocates have criticized the Justice Department\u2019s move to subpoena the New York Times journalists as an affront to the First Amendment, and the Times has said it plans to fight them in court.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The concerns about the new, $400 million Qatari-gifted jet came to dominate the conversation in Washington last week when Trump abruptly announced he was sending the new plane ahead to England\u2019s Mildenhall Air Force Base just before he departed a NATO summit in Turkey. Trump said in a social media post that the change in planes was simply to give US service members stationed at the base \u201ca chance to tour the Aircraft.\u201d He had previously touted the plane, which was remade and repainted to his tastes.\n    <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5979\">The downside of making Daylight Saving Time permanent<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cEverybody is so excited, and we thought that they should be the first,\u201d he wrote.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Trump departed on an older plane, then switched back at a secure US airbase in the UK. He downplayed the idea that security was the reason for the switch, though sources have told CNN and other outlets that it was.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a security concern, except we sent it a little early, same line going back. We sent it a little bit early, so that we could let them see,\u201d Trump said.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Sources told CNN that after Trump traveled to Turkey for the summit, the security assessment changed, and Wiles briefed Trump that he would need to leave the country on an older vessel. The Qatari plane, sources said, had been quickly retrofitted with defense capabilities but was still not as secure as the older version, which had been built to protect presidents in overseas travel.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            One official previously told CNN that the 747 gifted by Qatar was largely seen by the military and Secret Service as having been \u201crushed\u201d into service. By contrast, the official noted two new jets acquired as part of a deal Trump renegotiated during his first term have faced serious delays and aren\u2019t expected to be ready until at least 2028. That\u2019s partially due to the host of classified communication and defensive countermeasures that must be affixed, comprehensive design requirements by the military and the time required to train pilots on the unique aircraft.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The exact nature of the security differences between the old and new planes is not fully clear. Aviation observers studying pictures of the aircraft told CNN the new plane appears to lack external modifications to the tail cone associated with a type of directional infrared missile defense system. However, the absence of visible features does not definitively establish which systems are or are not installed.\n    <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5977\">Former Obama White House attorney says \u2018it was a mistake\u2019 to deal with Epstein and she regrets it<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>CNN\u2019s Kit Maher contributed to this report. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump\u2019s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One \u2013 with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump\u2019s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One \u2013 with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be\"},\"headline\":\"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985\"},\"wordCount\":857,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985\",\"name\":\"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?p=5985#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Relocation Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationtimess.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times","og_description":"Chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump\u2019s closest aide, and FBI Director Kash Patel helped personally orchestrate a sprawling investigation last week at the White House aimed at determining who in the government leaked information about the security deficiencies of a Qatari-gifted airplane meant to be used as Air Force One \u2013 with some officials being asked to turn over their phones to investigators on White House grounds, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985","og_site_name":"Relocation Times","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be"},"headline":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe","datePublished":"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985"},"wordCount":857,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985","url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985","name":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe - Relocation Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-15T18:35:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a2dbe2925096f714f1b5edf2fe09a3c3.jpg","width":800,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5985#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exclusive: Officials asked to turn over phones at the White House as Wiles, Patel lead intensifying leak probe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/","name":"Relocation Times","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/relocationtimess.com"],"url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}