A report blew up on the internet late Tuesday night regarding the FBI raid of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
It has been reported and confirmed that the use of "deadly force" had been authorized for the raid.
Talking Points…
- The Mar-a-Lago raid
- Deadly force authorized
- Analysis
Heading into the summer of 2022, Donald Trump had been negotiating with the government to turn over documents that were removed from the White House after Trump left office. Trump pushed the narrative that he thought he could take the documents, but the National Archives wanted them back.
In August 2022, the nation was stunned when an FBI raid of the Mar-a-Lago estate was streamed on TV. Dozens of FBI agents in full gear were seen at the former president's home, stunning everyone that the DOJ would be so bold as to raid Trump's home. At the time, Trump announced:
"My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents."
A total of 15 boxes of documents were removed from Mar-a-Lago, with the DOJ making a spectacle of the papers it retrieved, even making posts on social media over its bounty. Trump's attorneys, however, were livid, stating:
"President Trump and his legal team have been cooperative with FBI and DOJ officials every step of the way. The FBI did conduct an unannounced raid and seized paper."
Raiding a former president's home presents some very serious challenges. First and foremost, that being a significant Secret Service presence. These agents have sworn to take a bullet for the president if necessary, and with the FBI coming in with full tactical gear, this could have easily gotten out of hand.
As it turns out, the DOJ did not put any safeguards in place on this front, following normal protocols, which means the use of deadly force had been authorized in the raid. The FBI explained:
"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. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."
Trump happened to be out of town during the raid, but that is not really the point here. People get jumpy around guns, and when you have the home of a president being raided, it is quite easy to understand how that could have been misinterpreted. It still baffles me that the DOJ did not just tell Trump, hey, we are coming to get the documents, end of discussion, rather than conducting a raid like this.
Needless to say, when Trump saw the actual order, he went nuts on Truth Social, posting:
"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."
How the DOJ did not think of the big picture here is beyond me. They were already taking heat for weaponizing the DOJ against a political opponent, so, let's for a second imagine if something had gone wrong here and Trump was on property. What if Donald Trump had been shot and killed during the raid? The FBI literally taking out a presidential candidate who was running against the sitting president. Standard protocols or not, this one is going to come back hard again the Biden administration and the Department of Justice. One final note... Donald Trump, please stop whining about how cold the courtroom is. It makes you sound weak.
