Where there’s smoke: Holding Trump accountable is not politicization

In the wake of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida, loud is the caterwauling that the criminal investigation sets a frightening precedent that politicizes our country’s federal law enforcement functions. Equally loud are those who purport to be concerned about Trump’s possible offenses but worried that the FBI doing its duty will radicalize his supporters, who now say this means war.

These commentators, many of whom howled when Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information, are apparently unconcerned with the precedent set by a president corruptly using his powers to punish enemies and reward cronies, enrich his family, and attempt to overturn an election. As for those who wring their hands about radicalization, that train left the station on Jan. 6, 2021.

The raid by FBI agents is indeed a significant step in ongoing federal investigations against Trump, in this case likely the outgrowth of a probe into his treatment of sensitive documents. But it was executed after a showing of probable cause to a judge that a crime may well have been committed and that evidence of that crime was likely to be found at the location to be searched. We’re not so naive as to believe the FBI can’t abuse its authority, but that’s a real check on agents going rogue.

Those who gasp at the mere prospect that a president may pay a legal price for breaking federal statutes are also de facto saying countries like Israel and South Korea are collapsing democracies; the former has charged a prime minister with corruption and the latter has put two former presidents in prison over the last five years. One of the fundamental principles of a democratic state is that no one is above the law.

Even as histrionic critics make fools of themselves, the Justice Department shouldn’t give them more ammunition by keeping the public in the dark. It should release broad strokes about what it was seeking to accomplish comprising the investigation. And Trump himself is of course free to release the warrant he was served.