Former President Donald Trump pointed to boilerplate language in an unsealed FBI document Tuesday to baselessly claim that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, almost two years ago.
“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Ice Box,’ and received reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in his illegal and unconstitutional attack on Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI USING DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday night “WE NOW KNOW FOR CERTAINTY THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. MENTALLY UNSUITABLE FOR OFFICE – 25TH AMENDMENT!”
The claim was also boosted online by his supporters.
But the language referenced by Trump is a standard policy statement used to issue search warrants and was not unique to the FBI search of his property. In fact, the goal is to limit the use of lethal force.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM:
The Biden administration authorized the use of “lethal force” against former President Donald Trump during an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.
THE FACTS:
The policy statement about the “use of deadly force,” which appeared in an operations order for the Mar-a-Lago search, is not evidence of a plot to kill Trump. It is Department of Justice policy that it is standard for inclusion in such documents.
“The FBI 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,” the agency said in a statement. “No one ordered additional measures to be taken and there was no deviation from the norm in this matter.”
As appears in the order of operations, the policy stipulates in part that Justice Department officers “may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the target of such force poses an imminent danger.” of death or serious physical injury to the police officer or another person.” The policy is in the department’s Justice Manual, with only minor differences in wording from what is included in the order, and is summarized on the FBI website.
Frank Figliuzzi, former assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, reiterated in a post X what the agency said in its statement.
“Yes, every FBI operations order contains a reminder of the FBI’s deadly force policy,” he wrote. “Even for a search warrant. Deadly force is always authorized if the necessary threat presents itself.”
A motion filed by Trump’s lawyers in his classified federal documents case, also filed Tuesday, asserted that the August 2022 search was unconstitutional and “unlawful,” misquoting the operations order as saying that “dept. of Justice may use lethal force when necessary.”
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago, which was closed for the season, at the time of the search. The Associated Press reported at the time that the FBI contacted the Secret Service team providing protection for the former president and his homes shortly before executing the warrant.
The facts did not stop Trump and his allies from spreading the erroneous claim.
A fundraising email for the Trump campaign with the subject line “They were allowed to shoot me!” it was sent shortly after he posted it on social media and made even more outrageous claims.
“I almost escaped death,” he says. “You know they are eager to do the unthinkable. …Joe Biden has been blocked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP about the false allegations.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, wrote in an X post that “the Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light.”
Kari Lake, a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, wrote in her own X post: “FBI crazy Biden was ready to use lethal force during the BS attack at Mar-a-Lago. That tells you everything you need to know about this criminal Biden administrator.”
Trump was accused in June 2023 of illegally retaining classified documents taken with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021, and of obstructing government demands to return them. Additional related charges were filed a month later. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation that led to the indictment.
