FBI rationalizes ‘deadly force’ authorization in Trump raid; New documents released
by WorldTribune Staff, May 22, 2024 Contract With Our Readers
Following the publication of documents showing the FBI was authorized to use deadly force in the Aug. 8, 2022 raid on Donald Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago, the bureau issued the following statement:
“The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants.”
Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump at Mar-a-Lago ‘and even engage Secret Service if necessary,’ according to investigative reporter Julie Kelly, who obtained the FBI’s instruction orders.
Former Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington noted in an op-ed for the “War Room”: “In a rare moment of candor, the FBI admitted it is ‘standard protocol’ to entrap their opponents and try to kill them in unannounced raids.”
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post: “WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”
Investigative journalist Julie Kelly first reported that the FBI’s operational instructions for the raid on Mar-a-Lago included the “use of deadly force when necessary.”
“Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary,” according to Kelly, who obtained the instructions.
Harrington noted: “You’d be forgiven for not knowing they always have a combat medic at the scene when they send the Gestapo out to seize papers, except, of course, if they’re kept in an unlocked garage behind a corvette. Then they don’t send anybody at all.”
Steve Bannon said in his Tuesday “War Room” broadcast: “Good God in Heaven, what more do we need to shut this down? What is it going to take? Are we going to send a sharply-worded letter? If we tolerate this, we’re tolerating the end of the republic.”
Harrington noted: “Likewise, it’s standard operating procedure to fake evidence and photograph it for pure propaganda purposes.
“Relax. Pre-dawn raids on nonviolent, innocent political foes (and their lawyers) are totally normal in the Trump era. It happens all the time. You can even watch live on CNN. Trade advisors are put in leg irons at the airport, and thrown in prison. Members of Congress have their phones seized. The My Pillow CEO is boxed in at a Hardee’s drive-thru for questioning an election.
“And don’t worry. Deadly force is to be used ‘only when necessary.’ In case you’re wondering, the DOJ deems it ‘necessary’ to surveil a 300-pound 75-year-old man, who uses a cane, for months and send dozens of armored agents to break down his door, drive through his window, shoot him, and drag him out to bleed out on the sidewalk for mouthing off on social media and criticizing the Biden regime.”
Related: FBI tactics questioned in shooting death of elderly Utah man, August 11, 2023
Harrington concluded: “The bottom line is this: Legitimate regimes claiming to have received the most votes in history don’t need to send armed feds to raid the home of their political opponents, especially the home of a former president who beat them twice and is getting ready to beat them for a third time. They don’t need to bring in troops and lock down the Capitol for their inauguration, either.
“They’re illegitimate. They know it, and we know it. When will Republicans finally do something about it?”
Kelly revealed more documents from the raid on Wednesday, including invoices showing FBI agents ransacked the bedrooms of Melania Trump and Barron Trump.