Trump Falsely Claims Biden Administration Was ‘Locked & Loaded’ to Kill Him

Former President Donald J. Trump accused the Biden administration on Tuesday of having been prepared to kill him during a 2022 search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., making the false claim that President Biden was “locked & loaded” in a fund-raising email.

The claim relied on a misrepresentation of a standard Justice Department policy on the use of deadly force in its operations.

“BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME! It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable … Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”

— Mr. Trump, in a fund-raising email

This is misleading.

Mr. Trump was referring to a document that was made public Tuesday in a court filing in the criminal case regarding his handling of classified materials.

The document, on Page 11 of an evidentiary exhibit, described the F.B.I.’s plans for its court-authorized search in August 2022, and included a standard statement from the Justice Department’s policy on the use of deadly force. The F.B.I. is an agency of the Justice Department.

That statement says deadly force is allowed “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.” It specifies that such force is notpermissible to prevent a person from fleeing, to disable a moving vehicle or to stop someone who poses a threat only to themselves or to property.