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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Attorney General Merrick Garland pushed back on former President Donald Trump's claim that the Department of Justice (DOJ) authorized his assassination during the search of his Mar-a-Lago property, calling Trump's comments "false."
Asked by the House Judiciary Committee ranking member Representative Jerry Nadler if Trump was telling the truth about the DOJ, Garland responded, "The allegation is not true."
Garland, who appeared before the panel on Tuesday, called Trump's claim "dangerous" and warned that it "raises the threats of violence against prosecutors and career agents."
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"As the FBI has explained, the document that's being discussed is our standard use-of-force protocol, which is a limitation on the use of force and which is routinely part of the package for search warrants and was part of the package for the search of President Biden's home, as well," Garland said.
Last month, Trump told supporters in a fundraising email that Biden was "locked & loaded ready to take me out" during the search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022. He also said on Truth Social that he was shown reports about the DOJ having "AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE." Trump was not at the Palm Beach, Florida, resort at the time the warrant was executed.
Trump's congressional allies have also promoted the claims that the Biden DOJ attempted to assassinate the presumptive Republican nominee during the FBI search. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X, formerly Twitter, that the department "gave the green light" and Representative Paul Gosar tweeted that Biden "ordered the hit on Trump at Mar-a-Lago."
In response, the FBI issued a rare statement that revealed Trump's claims were a misrepresentation of the "Law Enforcement Operations Order" memo.
"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 May 22 statement. "No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."
Right-wing former FBI agents have also disputed Trump's claims, agreeing that the clauses are standard practice for the agency. Kyle Seraphin responded to the deadly force clauses on X, writing, "There is nothing out of the ordinary in these highlights. They are boilerplate," and Garret O'Boyle said the policy was "literally in EVERY @fbi op order and read verbatim to every agent involved prior to the op."
"This is a giant nothing-🍔. If @realDonaldTrump picked a competent @fbidirector, he'd have known that. The MAL raid is dubious at best. This policy is not," O'Boyle tweeted.
Update 6/4/24, 11:32 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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