Trump repeats FBI 'deadly force' claim as Jack Smith scrambles to get gag order
Donald Trump’s campaign doubled down on claims that FBI agents were cleared to use “deadly force” against him as they searched Mar-a-Lago for classified documents — as special prosecutor Jack Smith scrambled to get a gag order to silence the discredited statement.
In a fundraising email sent late Sunday, the GOP’s expected nominee re-shared a misquoted section of FBI policy that has been blasted as false by several experts — including Attorney General Merrick Garland who called Trump using it as "dangerous."
"This is an Alert from Donald Trump," the fundraiser read. “DEADLY FORCE? Biden authorized it. They brought guns to the raid on Mar-a-Lago!”
“I’m sick and tired of the Radical Left destroying this country and trying to destroy me. Here’s the bottom line: I WILL NEVER SURRENDER. AND NEITHER WILL YOU!”
The message then asked for a donation of up to $500.
The latest fundraising effort was reported by The Guardian.
Trump’s claim is based on an FBI policy that, “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.”
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The statement is standard procedure when FBI agents execute searches. Trump was not at Mar-a–Lago when the agents went there.
“No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter,” the FBI said in a statement.
On Friday, Smith asked for an order limiting what Trump can say about the raid, claiming that claims of what some Trump supporters have called an “assassination” attempt are dangerous.