FBI Was Authorized to Use ‘Deadly Force’ in Mar-a-Lago Raid
On August 8, 2022, former and potentially future President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence faced an unannounced FBI raid in a search for classified documents. Trump was not there at the time. Close to two years after the raid, and less than six month away from the 2024 presidential election, we know now that the FBI was authorized to use “deadly force.”
Coverage from The New York Post cites court documents unsealed on Tuesday in a motion to dismiss and suppress from Trump’s attorneys in the case of United States v. Trump. As the report mentioned:
The Department of Justice authorized “the use of deadly force” when FBI agents swarmed former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022 looking for classified documents, according to court filings Tuesday.
…
The authorities also were told to conceal their “law enforcement equipment” and come armed with “ammo,” “handcuffs” and “medium and large sized bolt cutters,” notes the filing by lawyers for the former president.
According to the lawyers, Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise, the nearly 10-hour “unconstitutional” search swept through the Palm Beach estate’s gym and kitchen, as well as the bedroom suite of former first lady Melania Trump and the bedroom of the couple’s teenage son Barron Trump.
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Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas, in a phone call in the days leading up to the raid, allegedly said he “frankly [didn’t] give a damn about the optics” of the recovery operation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has said he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant.”
Evidence in the court filing reveals an earlier back-and-forth between Trump’s lawyer and a prosecutor working for special counsel Jack Smith over retrieving the documents.
Oh my God
Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary.
They were going to go door to door to terrorize MAL guests and even pick the locks.
Gestapo pic.twitter.com/ViWahRIpTL
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 21, 2024
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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
