In a recent development, Special Counsel Jack Smith has appealed to a federal judge to prevent former President Donald Trump from portraying the FBI's 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago as a threat to his and his family's safety.
Smith argues that such allegations endanger the lives of law enforcement officers involved in the case.
The motion was filed with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the classified documents case in Florida. Smith's request seeks to prevent Trump from making statements that could potentially endanger law enforcement agents involved in the investigation and prosecution of the case. Trump had previously claimed in a campaign appeal that FBI agents were "locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
Court documents disclosed this week reveal that the FBI adhered to its standard use-of-force policy, which prohibits the use of deadly force unless the officer conducting the search reasonably believes that the subject poses an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person.
Smith's filing states, "These deceptive and inflammatory claims expose the law enforcement professionals who are involved in this case to unjustified and unacceptable risks."
The FBI has clarified that such contingencies are routine and that similar language was included in an operational plan for a subsequent search of President Biden's properties in Delaware.
The Justice Department maintains that the policy is standard and is designed to limit, not encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors highlighted that the search of the Florida property was deliberately conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. However, the revelation that the dozens of agents sent to search the home were prepared for potential violence has alarmed Trump's supporters, who argue that the two incidents are not comparable since the Justice Department is part of Biden's administration.
Smith's filing refers to Trump's assertion that the FBI "was authorized to shoot me," and was "just itching to do the unthinkable."
Smith wrote, "They invite the sort of threats and harassment that have occurred when other participants in legal proceedings against Trump have been targeted by his invective. Those risks have the potential to undermine the integrity of the proceedings as well as jeopardize the safety of law enforcement."
The operational plan came to light when Trump's legal team filed a motion requesting that documents related to the raid be made public. Smith contends that Trumps attorneys omitted a key word "only" in their motion earlier this week that led Trump to make the FBI accusations.
Prosecutors added, "Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment."
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung argued that "repeated attempts to silence President Trump during the presidential campaign are blatant attempts to interfere in the election."
Trump is accused of retaining classified documents at his estate that he took with him after leaving the White House in 2021, and then obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them. The FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in the raid.
The investigation is led by Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland. Smith has charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and has dismissed the case as an "Election Interference Scam" promoted by the Biden administration and "Deranged Jack Smith."
Earlier this month, Trump called for Smiths arrest after the prosecutors handling the 45th presidents classified documents case admitted that the seized documents are no longer in their original order and sequence.
Prosecutors admitted in a court filing that "there are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans." The prosecutors had previously told the court that the documents were "in their original, intact form as seized."
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