Supporters of former President Donald Trump are trying to amplify the false claim that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden sought to kill his political rival.
The revelations about deadly force authorization—though standard—came as part of a trove of documents unsealed Tuesday related to the classified documents case against Trump.
The FBI’s standard operating procedures—which it says it followed in its Mar-a-Lago operation—permit “deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
Additionally, according to the Justice Department’s policies, deadly force is not permitted solely to stop a fleeing suspect or moving vehicles, and warning shots are also barred.
Despite the language concerning deadly force being standard—and the fact that Trump himself was not present when the raid took place—the former president played into claims he was a potential political assassination target.
“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”
His campaign also sent out a fundraising email with the title “They were authorized to shoot me!”
“I nearly escaped death,” the email continued. “Biden’s DOJ was locked & loaded for deadly force at Mar-a-Lago.”
While the Mar-a-Lago raid for classified documents has already been deemed a political “witch hunt” by Trump and many of his supporters, the amplification of the FBI’s deadly force policy has only added fuel to the fire.
“The FBI raid was designed to provoke a response,” wrote right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich. “This was an assassination attempt on President Trump.”
“There’s no case and yet they were willing to use the thinnest of pretenses to ‘justify’ murder,” wrote another user on X. “Of a former president. Evil.”
Former White House chief strategist and right-wing commentator Steve Bannon similarly weighed in during an interview with Real America’s Voice, saying: “Use of deadly force against a former POTUS who just had an election stolen from him, hang on a second—the attempted assassination of President Donald J Trump. Is it not? Is it not? IS IT NOT?”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) amplified the claims as well.
“The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light,” she wrote on X Tuesday night. “Does everyone get it yet???!!!! What are Republicans going to do about it? I tried to oust our Speaker who funded Biden’s DOJ AND FBI, but Democrats stopped it.”
Her post was hit with a Community Note that states that “neither the DOJ nor the FBI were planning to assassinate Mr. Trump” and the “language in question is standard procedure.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) posted: “Biden ordered the hit on Trump at Mar-a-Lago.”
In a statement shared with multiple outlets responding to the uproar, the FBI said it “followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force.”
“No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”
And Trump, as his supporters would most likely begrudgingly acknowledge, was not killed in the raid, despite their outrage.
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