Donald Trump’s position in his classified documents case was already difficult to defend, but newly disclosed details make matters even worse. Indeed, an unsealed court ruling, brought to public attention this week, disclosed the fact that highly sensitive documents were found in 2022 inside the former president’s bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.
A Washington Post report added, “Buried in the supporting documentation for one of the motions was a document that contained a new public revelation: Once Trump realized that security cameras at Mar-a-Lago could capture his employees moving classified government information that officials were attempting to retrieve, he allegedly ensured that they would avoid the cameras when moving boxes.”
At least for now, neither the presumptive Republican nominee nor any of his sycophants have even tried to present a defense for any of this. Rather, they’ve focused their energies on something else entirely.
On Tuesday afternoon, the former president, referencing the newly available materials, claimed by way of his social media platform that the Justice Department “AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE” while executing a court-approved search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. This, according to Trump, constituted proof that President Joe Biden is “MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE.”
As we discussed soon after, it wasn’t at all clear how or why the Republican made this leap, but his allies were similarly hysterical. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, for example, claimed that the incumbent Democratic president “ordered the hit on Trump at Mar-a-Lago.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia added that the Justice Department and the FBI had plans to “assassinate” the former president. Even some Fox News personalities parroted the line.
Trump even issued an outlandish fundraising appeal, falsely claiming that Biden was “locked & loaded” and “ready to take me out” during the FBI’s search of his glorified country club.
After the claims were thoroughly and completely discredited, and the FBI itself took the unusual step of issuing a public statement leaving no doubt that the former president and his allies simply had no idea what they were talking about, Trump repeated the claim anyway. From an item published to his social-media platform shortly after midnight:
“… Biden’s Department of Injustice authorized the use of ‘deadly force’ in their Illegal, UnConstitutional, and Un-American RAID of Mar-a-Lago, and that would include against our Great Secret Service, who they thought might be ‘in the line of fire.’”
The presumptive GOP nominee would apparently have the public believe that Biden directed law enforcement to prepare to shoot people, including Secret Service agents, at Mar-a-Lago.
As Trump lies go, this isn’t just stark raving mad; it’s also quite dangerous. The basic details are unambiguous and uncontested: But as easy as it is to shake one’s head in disgust at Republicans’ willingness to peddle such ludicrous lies — even after they’ve been debunked — it’s just as important, if not more so, to consider the potential consequences. “The threat of political violence is persistently high, especially in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election. And by spreading this hoax, Trump is fanning the flames, in particular, of anti-government extremism,” a Just Security analysis explained this morning. The piece added, “Conspiracy theories such as the nonsensical assassination plot fuel the extremists’ anti-government paranoia and increase the likelihood of future violence. We should accordingly not be surprised if rightwing extremists interpret Trump’s words as a call to action against the FBI or others.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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