Fact Check: Did FBI Plan Donald Trump's 'Assassination?'

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There was no "assassination attempt" on Donald Trump by the FBI. The use of "deadly force" as contained in now unsealed search warrant documents is boiler-plate procedural text used by the bureau.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team

MAGA Donald Trump supporters have rallied behind the former president after he released FBI paperwork, connected to its search of his Mar-a-Lago residence, showing agents were permitted to use "deadly force."

On Tuesday, Trump shared on his social media platform Truth Social the information revealed by an unsealed search warrant in his classified documents case which said that federal agents were prepared to use "deadly force" when executing the raid of his Florida resort.

After the news broke, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Trump ally Mike Davis discussed what they called an "assassination" plot by the bureau.

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @TRHLofficial, on May 22, 2024, stated: "Steve Bannon and Mike Davis detail the assassination attempt of Donald Trump. 'If we tolerate this, we tolerate the end of this republic.'"

The post included a video with Bannon and Davis in which they discuss the search of Mar-a-Lago. During the video, Bannon said "They authorized deadly force, they had a medic, they had a plan to triage the wounded, they had a trauma center 18 miles away on a map. This was an attempted assassination on Donald John Trump or people associated with him. They wanted a gun fight.

"They had use of deadly force, authorized by the director of the FBI and [U.S. Attorney General] Merrick Garland. They brought a medic, a combat medic, they had a triage plan for the injured and they had a trauma center."

There is no evidence that the FBI search of the Mar-a-Lago was part of an "attempted assassination" on Trump.

The story comes from the release of a recent court filing connected to the search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022. An unsealed search warrant in that case revealed that federal agents were prepared to use "deadly force" when executing the raid of his Florida resort.

An "operations order" of the 9 a.m. raid that was produced in discovery contained a "policy statement" regarding the "use of deadly force," which said in part: "Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary."

A contingencies plan was also created in cohesion with the raid, showing that a paramedic should be at the scene in case someone is injured. The name of the nearest local trauma center, complete with an address and a phone number, was included on the same form.

However, the use of deadly force is standard FBI procedure as per the bureau's online resources that state "FBI special agents may use deadly force only when necessary—when the agent has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the agent or another person.

"If feasible, a verbal warning to submit to the authority of the special agent is given prior to the use of deadly force."

An FBI spokesperson sent Newsweek a statement issued in response to claims about the search warrant that said: "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."

Retired FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi wrote on X in response to the "deadly force" comments "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."

As noted in a recent report by Axios, former FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven D'Antuono told Congress last year that the Secret Service interacted with the FBI to make sure it could get into Mar-a-Lago "with no issues," saying "it wasn't even a show of force."

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Steve Bannon via email for comment.

Trump helped spread news about the FBI search warrant, writing on Truth Social on May 21, "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."

He added: "NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE—25TH AMENDMENT!"

Trump's post inflamed his supporters and his allies in the Republican Party, who repeated the assassination claims.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump loyalist known for her previous support for several QAnon conspiracy theories, immediately escalated the former president's accusations and wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that "the Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres. Trump and gave the green light."

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