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In recent days, as I attended the Trump trial in Manhattan, I learned that President Biden had used deadly force in connection with the FBI’s execution of a court-authorized search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion. I’m not surprised by former President Trump’s foolish claim that he authorized the use of
The claim is politically appealing to conspiracy theorists.
A search warrant is not a day in the circus (which can’t be said about days spent in court). Most cases are executed without problems, but there are many cases where this is not the case. They all involve a finding of probable cause that incriminating evidence will be recovered on the premises. The premises are usually associated with criminal suspects. Many (though by no means all) of these crimes are violent. Almost all of them involve circumstances in which law enforcement officials conclude that evidence may be destroyed or tampered with if not seized (generally law-abiding and cooperating with police and prosecutors). For non-violent crimes involving people with disabilities, the government typically secures evidence using less intrusive methods than raids).
Trump stresses Biden administration authorized ‘lethal force’ in Mar-a-Lago attack
All search warrants involve the possibility of forced entry. All of these involve the seizure of property by the police and can expose those involved to not only safety risks but also legal risks. Police and federal agents are usually good at identifying themselves in the process of seeking or forcing entry. However, there are also tragic cases where people on premises mistakenly believe that violent criminals, rather than police officers, are attempting to enter, resulting in physical confrontations, sometimes including gunfire.
It would have been surprising if the Mar-a-Lago search had not been conducted according to an operational plan that included a use-of-force policy. It was important to do this search in books.
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As a result, and as common sense, the FBI always has an operational plan for conducting a court-authorized search. That plan customarily includes reminding search teams of the FBI’s use-of-force policy, which, of course, includes a refresher on the conditions under which lethal force can be used, both to prepare law enforcement officials for those all-too-familiar contingencies and to protect the agency and its agents in the event of a later legal claim.
To continue reading Andrew McCarthy’s column, click here. national review.
