Several MAGA lawmakers on Tuesday claimed on social media that the FBI search warrant issued during Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate probe suggested that the agency, along with President Joe Biden, planned to "assassinate" ex-President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich issued a fact-check via X (formerly Twitter), writing, "NEWS: FBI SEARCHES AT PRESIDENT BIDEN'S HOMES ALSO INCLUDED DEADLY FORCE POLICY (which is standard) A person familiar with the Hur investigation confirms that the standard Department of Justice policy statement regarding the use of deadly force was also included in the operations order for the searches at President Biden’s residences in Delaware."
Heinrich added, "CONTEXT: yesterday, former President Trump suggested that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. A fundraising email read, 'Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out'. The FBI said standard protocol was followed, no additional steps were taken and there was no departure from the norm. This news about the deadly force policy also being in place for the FBI searches at Biden's homes underscores that point."
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The Fox reporter's report comes after ABC News Justice Department reporter Alex Mallon reported Tuesday that the FBI issued a "rare statement directly responding to this attack from Trump and his allies. Says 'standard protocol' was followed - 'No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."
Several legal and political experts — and even former FBI officials — responded to Heinrich's posts by mocking the Republican lawmakers like US Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) who claimed Biden planned to kill Trump.
Former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa wrote: "OMG President Biden planned to assassinate himself!"
MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance commented: "This *should* put an end to the prevaricating claim Merrick Garland signed off on approval to assassinate Trump by okaying the use of deadly force when the MAL search warrant was executed. This is standard language in search warrants. Nothing but faux outrage here."
READ MORE: 'FBI issues rare statement' to fact-check MAGA reps’ claim that 'Biden ordered the hit on Trump'
MSNBC political contributor Brian Tyler Cohen said: "Notice how no one is melting down on the left because we don’t traffic in manufactured outrage and we refuse to treat our audiences like they’re abject morons."
Washington Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake added: "By the logic of some, this would mean Biden’s own DOJ was trying to assassinate him."
READ MORE: Critics slam Trump and allies over false claim Biden plotted to assassinate him