Attorney General Merrick Garland is rejecting the claim the Department of Justice (DOJ) was authorized to kill former President Donald Trump.
During a press conference Thursday, a reporter noted the former president had sent out a fundraising email claiming the DOJ had “authorization to kill him during the Mar-a-Lago raid.” The reporter asked for “clarification” on the claim and whether deadly force was authorized in other situations.
“That allegation is false, and it is extremely dangerous. The document that is being referred to in the allegation is the Justice Department standard policy limiting the use of force,” Garland responded.
He added, “As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches. And in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden’s home.”
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It was reported Tuesday documents shared more details about the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022 in an effort to retrieve classified documents.
The FBI told Fox News, “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 steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”
“An ‘Operations Order’ produced in discovery as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records revealed that the ‘FBI believed its objective for the Mar-a-Lago raid was to seize ‘classified information, NDI, and US Government records,’ as described in the search warrant,’” Fox noted.
The documents show law enforcement officials “planned to bring ‘Standard Issue Weapons,’ ‘Ammo,’ ‘Handcuffs,’ and ‘medium and large sized bolt cutters,’ but they were instructed to wear ‘unmarked polo or collared shirts’ and to keep ‘law enforcement equipment concealed.”
In a fundraising email sent out on Tuesday night, Trump said, “BREAKING FROM TRUMP: BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME!It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago.”
“You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable…Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger. He thinks he can frighten me, intimidate me, and KNOCK ME DOWN! But worst of all? They think their THUG TACTICS will cause proud supporters like YOU to abandon me,” the email continued.
