Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s claim that the Biden administration authorized the FBI to use deadly force against him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago property searching for classified documents.
“This allegation is false and extremely dangerous,” Garland said at a news conference.
His remarks followed Trump’s writing this week on Truth Social that he had been shown reports indicating “that Crooked Joe Biden’s Justice Department, during its illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI USED DEADLY (LEAD) FORCE. .”
The Trump campaign made a similar statement in a fundraising email alleging that “Joe Biden was locked and loaded, ready to take me out.”
Trump was in New Jersey when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago.
In making these allegations, Trump appeared to cite recently unsealed court documents related to the 2022 search.
Garland said Thursday that the document in question sets out a standard policy.
“The document referred to in the allegation is standard Department of Justice policy limiting the use of force. As advised by the FBI, this is part of the standard operational search plan. And in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden’s home,” Garland said.
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Garland’s comments are not the first time the Justice Department has objected to Trump’s characterization.
In a rare statement Tuesday evening, the FBI said it had “followed standard protocol in this search, as we do with all search warrants,” and that no additional action had been ordered for Mar- a-Lago.
According to Department of Justice policy, law enforcement officers are only authorized to use force when there are no other safe alternatives. Deadly force is only authorized “when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the person subject to such force presents imminent danger of death or injury.” serious to the officer or to another person,” the policy states.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he deliberately withheld national defense information in connection with classified documents discovered at his Florida property after leaving office and ordered a Mar-a-Lago employee to delete property security video. The trial was postponed indefinitely.
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News Source : www.nbcnews.com
