No one is above the law. If Donald Trump committed a crime, he should be prosecuted

For all of the heated rhetoric concerning the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, there are only two relevant questions under the law: Was there probable cause based on evidence of illegal activity? And were proper procedures followed in obtaining and executing the search warrant?

The answer to both questions seems to be yes, making the search entirely lawful.

What, then, is the reason for the political firestorm that caused condemnation and threats of violence by some on the right? It appears to be the notion that it’s wrong to subject a former president to criminal investigation.

But hearing conservatives minimize these offenses reveals a great irony. During his 2016 campaign and repeatedly thereafter, Trump accused Hillary Clinton of mishandling classified information pertaining to the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi. This was the basis for the repeated chant of “lock her up,” a staple of Trump’s rallies.

Trump often stressed the importance of the proper handling of classified documents, even signing a law making the removal and retention of classified documents a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The criticism of the search, then, must be on the ground that it’s wrong to investigate whether a former president committed a felony. Surely, however, that cannot be right in a nation that believes in the rule of law. A core aspect of the rule of law is that no one, not even a current or former president, is above it.

On Aug. 12, the search warrant was made public in response to a request from the U.S. Department of Justice. It identified three laws the agency believed were violated: The Espionage Act, which makes it a federal crime to retain or disclose information related to national defense; a federal law that criminalizes the destruction or concealment of documents “with the intent to impede, obstruct or influence the investigation” of any matter under federal jurisdiction; and a statute that makes it a crime to engage in the theft or destruction of government documents.

The question at this point was whether there was probable cause to believe that these laws were violated. That same day, the DOJ also released a property receipt for what it took during the search, indicating that 11 sets of classified documents were recovered, including some that were marked as “top secret” and are supposed to be viewed only in secured facilities.

In response, Trump said none of the material was classified. This implies that, as president, he had declassified them. But even if this is true, it doesn’t matter: None of the laws requires that the information in question was ever deemed classified.

It is true that a criminal investigation of a former U.S. president is unprecedented. But that likely reflects that there was a lack of probable cause to believe that other former presidents committed crimes, not that they were above the law.

It’s unknown whether Trump will be prosecuted as a result of the evidence seized from Mar-a-Lago or for his involvement in the insurrection. But both the left and the right should agree on one thing: If the former president committed a crime, he should be prosecuted. No one is above the law.