Garland blasts Trump's rhetoric on FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid: 'Extremely dangerous'

The FBI said the only way it differed from regular operating procedure in its raid on Trump's estate was placing FBI agents in khakis and polo shirts in order to avoid drawing attention to the raid.

By Misty Severi

Published: May 23, 2024 4:12pm

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday slammed former President Donald Trump's recent rhetoric on the FBI's raid of his Mar-a-Lago resort as "false and extremely dangerous."

The FBI says they followed standard policies regarding the use of deadly force during a raid of Trump's Palm Beach resort in 2022, but Trump claimed in a fundraising email on Wednesday that the FBI under President Joe Biden had been “locked & loaded and ready to take me out," according to The Hill.

Garland denied the allegations that the Justice Department had been authorized to "shoot" Trump, as the former president had also claimed in the email.

“That allegation is false, and it is extremely dangerous,” Garland said in a press briefing. “The document that has been referred to in the allegation is the Justice Department standard policy, limiting the use of force ... As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches and in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden’s home."

The raid did not pose a direct danger to Trump, because it occurred while he was not on site. The policy Trump was referring to also only allows the use of deadly force when necessary, such as when a person poses a threat to officers.

The FBI said the only way it differed from regular operating procedure in its raid on Trump's estate was placing FBI agents in khakis and polo shirts in order to avoid drawing attention to the raid.

The raid was in response to allegations that Trump had failed to turn over classified documents at the end of his presidential term. The agents recovered more than 100 documents with classification markings.

"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," the FBI said in a statement, reported by ABC News. "No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."