Former President Donald Trump has made baseless claims that the Biden administration authorized the use of deadly force against him during an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate nearly two years ago. Trump pointed to standard language in an FBI document that mentioned the use of lethal force as evidence of a plot to kill him. However, this language is a standard policy statement included in search warrant documents to limit the use of deadly force. The FBI confirmed that they followed standard protocol for the search and that no additional steps were taken to harm Trump.
The policy statement on the “use of deadly force” mentioned in the operations order for the Mar-a-Lago search is a Department of Justice policy that is standard for such documents. It specifies that officers may only use deadly force when necessary, such as when the subject poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. Former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi reiterated that deadly force is always authorized if the required threat presents itself. Trump’s lawyers filed a motion claiming the search was unconstitutional and illegal, misquoting the operations order to suggest that law enforcement officers were authorized to use deadly force.
Despite the facts confirming that there was no intention to harm Trump during the search, he and his allies continued to spread false allegations. Trump sent out a fundraising email claiming that he was nearly shot during the FBI search and made further outrageous claims about Biden wanting to harm him and his family. Hard-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also alleged that the Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Trump, while Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake criticized the Biden administration for allegedly authorizing the use of deadly force during the search at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump was charged in June 2023 with illegally retaining classified documents taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021, as well as obstructing government demands to return them. The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was part of a larger probe that led to Trump’s indictment on these charges. Despite the facts clarifying the standard use of language in search warrant documents to limit the use of deadly force, Trump and his supporters continued to perpetuate the false narrative that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during the search of his estate.
