It would certainly shock any American to hear that 'use of deadly force' was authorized against you and your family, just as it did Tuesday for former President Donald Trump. As a former U.S. Attorney, I can tell you that it is Standard Operating Procedure in a felony search warrant for the FBI to be authorized to use deadly force, but it’s downright frightening to imagine what could have happened at Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022 when a team of SWAT officers raided the residence of a U.S.
President Trump plead not guilty to the 37-count indictment, but the ongoing investigation and court filings for the postponed trial brought the 'deadly force' language to everyone’s attention.
Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office testified to this point before the House Judiciary Committee, expressing concern about executing the search warrant without the consent of one of Trump’s lawyers. Such protocol would have dialed down the temperature, removed the perception of a politically tinged investigation, and almost certainly avoided the use of inappropriate and inflammatory 'deadly use of force' language.
We should all be questioning the DOJ and FBI on why the 'use of deadly force' is standard operating procedure in this case when it is so infrequently utilized in most, if not all, white-collar investigations. It’s concerning and easy to imagine what could have gone wrong in the Mar-a-Lago raid.