By Steve Neavling
Leave it to Donald Trump and his supporters to turn a standard operating procedure at the FBI into claims that President Biden’s administration planned to assassinate the former president.
In a campaign fundraising email, Trump falsely said Biden was “locked & loaded ready to take me out” when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents, The Washington Post reports.
Trump also claimed on his Truth Social website that the Justice Department “AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE” during the search.
It appears Trump is referring to a law enforcement document, recently disclosed in a court filing, that outlines the bureau’s plans to search his estate in August 2022. On a page in the document is a “policy statement” that indicates lethal force is the last resort when a subject poses an “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury” to law enforcement or another person.
There’s nothing unusual about the policy statement. It’s standard language about use of force while executing a warrant, the FBI said in a statement.
Trump and some of his supporters, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, claimed that document was proof that Biden’s Justice Department was prepared to kill him.
Greene, a Georgia Republican and MAGA loyalist, went further, claiming the DOJ and FBI “were planning to assassinate Pres Trump” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Does everyone get it yet???!!!!” Taylor continued. “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.”
In a statement to The Washington Post, the FBI said the search briefing “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.”
Trump has been charged with mishandling top-secret documents, but the case is tied up as the Supreme Court considers whether the former president has immunity, as Trump claims.
