NEW: Trump ‘Deadly Force’ Filing Behind Biden Assassination Fantasy Badly Misquotes FBI Doc

The Trump attorney filing behind ex-President Donald Trump’s fantasy that President Joe Biden tried to assassinate him with the FBI features a key misquote of the FBI document in question.

Right-wing hysteria has reached a fever pitch over a false claim that the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort was actually an assassination attempt.

The basis for the claim is standard language in the raid’s operation order that said agents “may use deadly force only 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.”

Trump is now fundraising on the fantastical scenario, which has captured imaginations across the MAGAsphere — even after Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich debunked the claim.

But the filing by Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise contains a key misquote of the guidance in the operation order that was included in the exhibits submitted with the filing. a motion to “suppress the evidence seized during the unconstitutional raid of Mar-a-Lago and obtained from the unlawful violation of President Trump’s attorney-client privilege.”

The operations order itself is a fascinating read, detailing the planning and equipment to be used in the raid, including a contingency if USSS (United States Secret Service) should “provide resistance or interfere with FBI timeline or accesses.”

That awkward scenario never played out, as the exhibit goes on to note:

Prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team’s entry onto the MAL premises, FBI leadership informed and coordinated with local United States Secret Service (USSS) leadership. Local USSS facilitated entry onto the premises, provided escort and access to various locations within, and posted USSS personnel in locations where the FBI team conducted searches.

But the section on deadly force, key to the assassination fantasy, is actually just a standard statement of current federal policy that begins “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary”:

POLICY STATEMENT USE OF DEADLY FORCE (7/19/2022)

1. Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only 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.

A. Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.

B. Firearms may not be fired solely to disable moving vehicles. Specifically, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless:

i. a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle; or

ii. the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury to the officer or others, and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.

C. If feasible and if to do so would not increase the danger to the officer or others, a verbal warning to submit to the authority of officer shall be given prior to the use of deadly force.

D. Warning shots are not permitted outside of the prison context.

E. Officers will be trained in alternative methods and tactics for handling resisting subjects, which must be used when the use of dea force is not authorized by this policy.

F. Deadly force should not be used against persons whose actions are a threat solely to themselves or property unless an individual poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others in close proximity.

2. Officers should seek to gain voluntary compliance before using force if feasible and if doing so would not increase the danger to the officer or others.

3. Officers must prevent or stop, as appropriate, another officer from engaging in excessive or unlawful force, or force that violates DOJ policy.

4. Officers must request and/or render medical aid as appropriate.

Trump’s attorneys dropped the word “only” in their attached motion:

The Order contained a “Policy Statement” regarding “Use Of Deadly Force,” which stated, for example, “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary . . . .”

Read the full filing here.