We all know that the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence back in August 2022 for the seizure of “classified documents” was a political hit job by Joe Biden’s handlers and Merrick Garland. That started this whole lawfare mess that we’re seeing now.
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The politicization of it only became more obvious to everyone who hasn’t kept up with it earlier this month, when it was revealed that a photo circulating online of “Secret” and “Top Secret” documents found at Mar-a-Lago was allegedly staged, as independent journalist Julie Kelly reported and our own Matt Margolis commented on.
But now Kelly has revealed how much dirtier the whole thing may have been: The FBI was apparently authorized to use deadly force for the raid.
It’s unclear at this point whether this is standard operating procedure for FBI raids. PJ Media asked the FBI if this was a blanket policy or if there was specific authorization to use deadly force during the Mar-a-Lago raid, but it did not comment by the time of publication.
Kelly’s first tweet shows a recently unsealed document that contains details about the Operations Order containing this abbreviated policy statement in the document she posted, which appears to quote directly from the FBI website: “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.”
Tons of new unsealed filings on classified docs case–I will try to post as much as I can (there goes the workout) but this is mind-blowing.
FBI authorized the use of deadly force at Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/f0lR6UifAH
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 21, 2024
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An additional tweet from Kelly at the end of her thread suggests that the deadly force stipulation is indeed a blanket policy.
Here is the use of deadly force instructions attached to the FBI’s operational instructions.
Head of Washington FBI field office when this was executed: Steven D’Antuono.
Recall who authorized the raid: Merrick Garland
The FBI risked the lives of Donald Trump, his family, his… pic.twitter.com/XHHLDYqWgV
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 21, 2024
Retired FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi noted on X that the policy on the use of deadly force is included in every FBI Operations Order.
Yep, 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. https://t.co/OolEwoDmoQ
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) May 21, 2024
But hold on; there’s more. In the next tweet, Kelly showed additional documents that said, “FBI, MM (evidently referring to Miami agents), and [Office of Special Counsel] will be prepared to engage with [Former] POTUS and [Secret Service].”
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
Agents were apparently prepared to physically fight Trump and his Secret Service detail if necessary and sweep every room. “Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary,” Kelly wrote. “They were going to go door to door to terrorize MAL [Mar-a-Lago] guests and even pick the locks.”
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Still, they did have a medic on hand and had notified a nearby hospital about potential incoming patients if anyone was injured.
That does not improve the situation, but it leads to a troubling question: Did they genuinely believe that Trump and the Secret Service would fight back?
If Donald Trump should win back the White House in November, he better do some serious fumigation and purging in the Department of Justice once he’s sworn back in come January.
Update: The FBI responded to PJ Media’s request for comment with the following statement: “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.”