Cheney Challenges GOP to Confront Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Raid Claims

Look at her face. It reeks of satanism and hatred. No wonder she hates Trump. He represents the war against evil. Evil as in Liz Cheney

— Patrick (@kcirtapoldman) May 22, 2024

Here’s the post from Cheney:

Donald Trump is unstable and dangerous. He knows this is a lie that could again provoke violence from those who blindly follow him. Rs in Congress: You know Trump is unfit.
When will you put aside your cowardice and stand up for what you know is right? https://t.co/lTy2hZQiGP

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 22, 2024

Here’s Trump’s post:

WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the “Icebox,” and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A… pic.twitter.com/rWbCnL8S40

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) May 21, 2024

Here’s the article from ABC News that Cheney posted which states:

The FBI has issued a rare statement after former President Donald Trump and several GOP lawmakers spread false claims suggesting President Joe Biden authorized his assassination during the search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022.

In a fundraising email responding to right-wing media reports that offered a distorted reading of a newly-unsealed court filing in Trump’s classified documents case, Trump falsely claimed Biden was “locked & loaded ready to take me out.”

In a separate post on his Truth Social platform Tuesday evening, Trump further said he was “shown Reports” that Biden’s DOJ “AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE” in their search of the property for classified documents.

Behind Trump’s false claims is a major misrepresentation of an otherwise boilerplate policy memo that was included in newly-unsealed documents that accompanied a filing from Trump’s own lawyers in his classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday.

The memo was part of a ‘Law Enforcement Operations Order’ drawn up by agents preparing to carry out the search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, after a magistrate judge agreed the government had shown probable cause that agents would find evidence of unlawfully retained national defense information and obstruction of justice on the premises.

In their search, agents ultimately recovered around 100 documents with classification markings — months after the government subpoenaed Trump for any remaining in his possession, and after the government says it gathered evidence Trump had misled his own lawyers to sign a false certification asserting all such documents had been returned.

“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 Tuesday evening. “No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”

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Newsweek adds:

Following former President Donald Trump’s complaints that President Joe Biden authorized deadly force during the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022, former GOP Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming urged Republicans in Congress to overcome “cowardice” for “what you know is right.”

A court filling was unsealed on Tuesday showing briefing notes for the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid, which said: “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice [DOJ] may use deadly force when necessary.” Trump faces 40 felony charges stemming from the search of his Florida residence in which he’s accused of keeping classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021, and of obstructing efforts to get them returned to the proper authorities. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts and denies any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Trump took to his Truth Social account, saying that the DOJ “AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE” during the operation.

In a fundraising email, Trump said that the president was “locked & loaded ready to take me out,” reported ABC News.

The FBI in response released a statement, insisting the bureau followed “standard protocol” during the operation, which “includes a standard policy statement” on the use of force.