Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that President Biden was “locked & loaded and ready to take me out” when the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate over his stash of classified documents.
In a fundraising email, Mr. Trump told supporters, “They were authorized to shoot me!”
The former president based the claim on newly released Justice Department documents showing the FBI was authorized to use deadly force when 30 federal agents raided his Palm Beach, Florida compound on August 8, 2022.
Mr. Trump was not at home at the time.
“Breaking from Trump: Biden’s DOJ was authorized to shoot me!” the email says in all caps. Multiple links in the email let readers donate to his campaign, anywhere from $20.24 to $3,300.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer quickly seized upon Mr. Trump’s dramatic claim.
The New York Democrat said Mr. Trump is “using conspiracy theories to spin the hard-right into a frenzy.”
Mr. Schumer posted on X that Mr. Trump’s claim “is how people get killed, how the seeds of political violence are sowed. Every member of the House and Senate must condemn this.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she alerted the president to the documents authorizing deadly force.
“I made sure that he knew. The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate President Trump and gave the green light,” Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, wrote on X. “Does everyone get it yet???!!!! What are Republicans going to do about it? I tried to oust our Speaker who funded Biden’s DOJ AND FBI, but Democrats stopped it.”
The unsealed Justice Department documents outlined the FBI’s plans to search Mar-a-Lago. They included boilerplate language authorizing the use of force, including limited times in which agents could use deadly force.
“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,” the FBI said in a statement.
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