On Tuesday, Judge Cannon released a series of documents that included the FBI Operations Plan (Ops Plan) for the execution of a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. In short order, citizen journalist Julie Kelly began publishing the Ops Plan on her X account. Kelly also provided commentary on the posted documents claiming, among other things, that the “FBI authorized the use of deadly force at Mar-a-Lago.”
The title of the post was misleading and sensational. However, it achieved its intended effect. Only hours later, Jessie Watters would report, “Biden Admin Authorized Use Of Deadly Force In Raid.” And, even Donald Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Wow!..Joe Biden’s DOJ…authorized the FBI to use deadly (lethal) force.” The conservative media space has been in a furor ever since, with every imaginable pundit, personality, and keyboard jockey railing about the FBI’s plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Even characteristically thoughtful and analytical people have been swept away by the torch carrying mob.
Kelly followed up her initial post by exclaiming, “Oh my God…Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary…Gestapo.” The narrative being composed was of a fanatical onslaught of FBI agents who descended unannounced on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound, bristling with guns, and prepared to shoot it out with the Secret Service in a diabolical plot to murder former President Trump, and pillage his compound before lighting it afire, joining hands and singing a pean of worship to the Lord of the Flies.
Actually, the truth is rather mundane, but there are elements of sinister manipulation surrounding the FBI’s ham-fisted raid of Trump’s Palm Beach mansion. The lack of critical analysis is astonishing, and the conflation of several disparate questions has created the tissue of legitimacy for the ludicrous FBI assassination plot narrative.
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The Mar-a-Lago raid was deeply flawed from its inception. Several very senior FBI executives expressed their grave concerns and expressed the opinion that such an operation was not an appropriate use of FBI resources. This fact has been reported by Molly Hemingway and by a highly experienced former FBI Special Agent In Charge.
Notwithstanding, Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland pressed the matter forward as FBI Director Chris Wray acquiesced. The appropriateness of the raid and elements of the manner of its execution are separate and distinct questions from Kelly’s coloring of the inclusion of the FBI’s standard use of force policy in a copy of the search warrant’s Operations Plan (OP) as, essentially, a license to kill.
Every FBI OP, whether for arrest or the execution of a search warrant, contains a mandatory (per FBI policy) declaration of U.S. Supreme Court tested use of force. The statement is as follows: “Agents may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the Agents have probable cause to believe that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the Agents or to other persons.” Kelly’s post only provides a partial quote.
This boilerplate statement was included, as per policy, in the OP for the Mar-a-Lago raid. This use of force standard is ubiquitous in Federal, State, and Local law enforcement, and is the same standard to which citizens are held if utilizing deadly force. It is a standard applied to individuals, and appropriateness is judged in accordance with the specific fact pattern in which deadly force is utilized. In short, no one can “authorize'' anyone to utilize deadly force. It is a decision which must be made by the individual, in fear of “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury." And, that decision is subject to judicial review with potential criminal or civli liability.
Anyone asserting that the FBI was granted a license to assassinate Trump by the DOJ is gaslighting with the probable motive of profiting from your “clicks.”
Another very big problem with the assassination theory is the very inconvenient truth that Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago on the day of the raid, and the FBI was aware of that fact. Which leads to Kelly’s second post — a juvenile misreading of the word “engage.” In short, “engage” is law enforcement speak for “go have a convo with.” Not, “let's get in a shootout.” The document which Kelly so badly butchers states, “FBI MM EM [abbreviation for Miami Field Office Executive Management] will…engage with USSS POC’s [Points of Contact] per EXISTING [my emphasis] liaison relationships.” The idea of FBI Executive Management getting into a shootout with the Secret Service makes me laugh nearly to the point of tears.
Prior to the planned raid, the FBI coordinated extensively with the Secret Service. Fox News reported in April that, “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.” So much for the theory that the FBI failed to deconflict; and thereby, walked unbidden into a potential powder keg of blue on blue fratricide.
Was the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago a routine event? Of course not. In fact, it should never have happened, and was clearly an attempt by the Biden administration to sideline a political competitor. The FBI rifled through Melania Trump’s wardrobe and “unmentionables.” An outrage to be sure. However, there is no excuse for people who claim the title of conservative to also adopt the fear mongering, disingenuous, bullying, crass, and uncouth tactics of the left. It’s appalling to watch impactful personalities in the conservative media space ape the left and distort for pride and personal gain. The state of conservative thought and discourse has never been more in doubt.
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