'Deadly force' rules for Mar-a-Lago search were boilerplate, not assassination OK | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·5 min read

The claim: 'Biden's DOJ gave the FBI authority to assassinate' Trump in Mar-A-Lago search

A May 21 Facebook post (direct link, archive link ) makes a heavy allegation about what the FBI was authorized to do when serving a warrant in August 2022 on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

“Newly released files show the FBI was given clearance, by Merrick Garland, to use lethal force against Trump, his family, and the Secret Service during the Mar-A-Lago raid,” the post reads. “Do you understand the implications here? Biden's DOJ gave the FBI authority to assassinate a former President and top political opponent on American soil.”

This echoes a claim made by Trump that the FBI documents "authorized the FBI to use deadly lethal force" in the raid.

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Our rating: False

The post – like Trump's claim – drastically misrepresents what is essentially boilerplate language. Far from an assassination authorization, the routine deadly force policy included in the search order focuses primarily on situations where deadly force is not authorized. Reminders of the policy are part of operations orders for any FBI activity, according to the bureau and current and former officials. The search was also scheduled for a time when Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago.

Document explains limits on use of deadly force

The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, to recover documents Trump had taken from the White House after his presidency. The investigation spawned federal charges over the handling of classified materials.

Documents released in the case referenced “deadly force,” prompting a flurry of claims across conservative social media, as well as claims by Trump himself and U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene that the authorization was tantamount to greenlighting Trump’s assassination.

But all of those claims mischaracterized the nature of the DOJ's search document.

The Law enforcement operations order detailing the Mar-A-Lago search, dated Aug. 3, 2022, mentions deadly force only in one section: A copy of the DOJ's standard policy on use of deadly force that focuses primarily on ways to avoid using it and situations where it is not allowed.

When Trump's team criticized this inclusion in a Feb. 22 legal brief (cited by Gosar and many others), it also misquoted the document. The filing quotes the search order as saying the DOJ "may use deadly force when necessary," but the use of force policy actually says "may use deadly force only when necessary."

Those guidelines limiting when deadly force can be used are included in documents ordering any FBI operations, according to the bureau and past and present officials with the Justice Department.

Attorney General Merrick Garland noted at a May 23 news conference that the exact same guidelines were in place in the authorization of a voluntary search of President Joe Biden’s Delaware home for classified materials. Garland lambasted the suggestion that it was unusual to include a reminder of the department’s deadly force policy or that Trump’s assassination was authorized.

“That allegation is false and it is extremely dangerous,” Garland said, according to USA TODAY.

The Justice Department's Justice Manual lays out specific, limited circumstances under which deadly force can be used.

“Law enforcement officers and correctional officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person,” the policy reads in part.

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An FBI statement further emphasized that the deadly force language was routine.

“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,” the FBI said in a statement to USA TODAY. "No one ordered additional steps to be taken, and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."

Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “every FBI operations order contains a reminder of FBI deadly force policy. Even for a search warrant. Deadly force is always authorized if the required threat presents itself.”

Trump was not present at Mar-a-Lago during the search and Steven D’Antuono, a former FBI assistant director, previously testified to the House Judiciary Committee that was by design. He said the bureau wanted to avoid a “spectacle” and took steps to avoid any kind of conflict during the search.

"We made sure we interacted with the Secret Service to make sure we could get into Mar-a-Lago with no issues," he testified, according to a transcript. "We’re not banging down any doors. We weren’t bringing any like FBI vehicles, everything that was reported about helicopters and a hundred people descending on, like a "Die Hard" movie, was completely untrue, right. That is not how we played it."

USA TODAY could not reach the social media user who shared the claim for comment.

The Associated Press, PolitiFact, the Washington Post and AFP also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Deadly force' rules did not OK a Trump assassination | Fact check