Donald Trump’s allies in Congress on Tuesday matched FBI standard operating procedures with what they called an attempt by President Joe Biden’s administration to assassinate the former president during a 2022 search of his Mar-a-Hai estate. Lake in search of classified documents, even though the FBI specifically planned the search during a time when they knew Trump was hundreds of miles away in New Jersey.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X that the Department of Justice and the FBI had plans to “assassinate” Trump “and gave the green light.”
Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, posted in X that President Joe Biden “ordered the attack on Trump at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
The posts came shortly after Trump, who was not at Mar-a-Lago on the day of the FBI search, wrote on Truth Social that he was shown reports indicating “that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in its illegal and unconstitutional March raid -a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE.
Trump, who has often accused Biden of using the justice system as a weapon against him, appeared to be referring to newly revealed court cases related to documents found at Mar-a-Lago after the FBI searched them in 2022.
In a rare statement Tuesday night, the FBI said it followed standard procedure during the search of Trump’s property and that no further action was ordered.
“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. No one ordered additional measures to be taken and there was no deviation from the norm in this matter,” the statement said.
According to Justice Ddepartment policy, law enforcement officers are only authorized to use force when no other safe alternatives appear to exist. The policy further says that deadly force is permitted only “when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the object of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.”
Even right-wing former FBI agents who regularly criticize the agency have pushed back on the focus on FBI protocols, calling the documents “boiling plate”, “nothing out of the ordinary” and “a giant nothing burger” (using a hamburger emoji), in posts on led by top Trump ally, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night, and spokespeople for Greene and Gosar did not elaborate on their posts.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he knowingly withheld national defense information in connection with classified documents that were discovered at his Florida estate after he left office and that he ordered a Mar-a-Lago employee to delete the video property security. The trial was postponed indefinitely.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
