In Bizarre Claim, Marjorie Taylor Greene Says That FBI ‘Planned to Assassinate’ Trump at Mar-A-Lago

Republican Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene stated without proof that President Joe Biden attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump during the 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover stolen classified documents. The Republican, infamous for her espousal of conspiracy theories, deliberately misconstrued the Justice Department's usual policy, which authorized the use of "deadly force" during an FBI investigation, as a plot to "assassinate" the former president, per Newsweek.

“The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light,” she posted on X. “Does everyone get it yet???!!!! What are Republicans going to do about it?” Trump and his supporters at Fox News and Newsmax were quick to repeat the allegation, although such authorization is common practice for the Department of Justice, per Independent.

On August 8, 2022, the FBI raided the former president's Florida mansion and seized hundreds of papers. Trump faces 40 criminal charges for mishandling highly classified documents carried to his residence after leaving office. Newly disclosed court filings revealed on May 21 that four more classified documents were located in Trump's bedroom in the months following the bureau's investigation. In a statement, the FBI emphatically denied these unfounded charges.

“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 statement read. “No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter,” it added. According to Justice Department regulations, law enforcement agents may use force only when no other safe alternatives appear to exist. The policy further states that lethal force is only allowed “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 another person.”

Frank Figliuzzi, the agency's former associate director for counterintelligence, agreed with the FBI's statement in an X post. "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," he wrote. Joyce Vance, former US Attorney, made a similar point in a post on X, saying, "This 'controversy' about Garland 'authorizing' deadly force when the judicially authorized search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was executed is a lot of sounding off over something that's a standard practice, controlled by longstanding policy. A little dose of facts goes a long way here."

Mike Sington, a journalist, also fact-checked these claims on X, writing, "Trump hyperventilating that FBI was ready to shoot him and the entire family when they “raided” (entered with a valid search warrant) Mar-a-Lago. Note to the snowflake: Armed law enforcement are always authorized to use deadly force if warranted."