FBI agents prepared for potential resistance from U.S. Secret Service agents while executing a search warrant at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, according to newly unsealed court documents that show the use of “deadly force” was authorized.
The operational plan for the raid in southern Florida specified that if Trump arrived during the search, the FBI would be ready to engage with both Trump and the Secret Service agents tasked with his protection. Should the Secret Service interfere with the FBI's activities or timeline, the agents were instructed to contact specific officials, whose names and positions were redacted.
The documents further revealed that if Mar-a-Lago staff refused to provide a list of occupied guest rooms, the FBI agents were prepared to knock on each door to determine occupancy. The agents planned to request a map, a list of rooms, and a master key for all rooms, and they were equipped with lock-picking tools.
These documents were presented to President Trump as part of the discovery process in the criminal case against him and were filed on the docket on May 21. Trump's lawyers included the documents as exhibits in a motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the raid was unconstitutional.
President Trump’s lawyers argued that the search was overly broad and “roving,” criticizing its scope, which included areas like a gym, a kitchen, and bedrooms where pictures were taken. They contended that the warrant allowed agents to seize nearly any document from Mar-a-Lago.
The unsealed documents also addressed the use of deadly force, citing government policy that Department of Justice law enforcement officers may only use deadly force when it is necessary—specifically, when the officer reasonably believes that the subject poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.
The FBI brought a medic and a paramedic to the Mar-a-Lago raid and identified the nearest trauma center in case of injuries during the warrant's execution.
The FBI had no basis to bring guns onto the premises, according to President Trump’s lawyers.
“There were no threats and no risk to agents’ safety arising from their allegations relating to possession of documents at a premises already guarded by the Secret Service,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.
Read the motion from Trump’s lawyers here.
