The recent service of search warrants on the home and office of former Trump advisor and current Trump hater John Bolton have provoked cries of “political retribution!” from the usual suspects. Though I have no access to the FBI’s cause for the searches, and one might be forgiven for being suspicious of pretty much everything the FBI does or says, there appears to be plentiful evidence to be suspicious of the usual suspects. And of course, it’s always different when Democrats and Never Trumpers do it:

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John Bolton, former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump, says "there is no evidence" that the FBI's lawful search of the former president's Mar-a-Lago home last week was motivated by politics. [skip]

"There is no evidence there is a partisan motive here," Bolton told Reuters in an interview Wednesday. "I think everybody just ought to calm down, whether you're pro-Trump or anti-Trump, and let the process work its way through."

What’s really happening? To best understand the issues, consider my police experience.

My final police assignment was as a detective solely assigned vehicle burglaries. Our city was awash in them, and I eventually filled the local jail and state prison with burglars, and our newly expanded evidence building with recovered stereos and other goodies.

One day a young man walked in to nervously tell me he stopped at a friend’s apartment the previous evening where the friend and his roommate were bragging about committing multiple home and car burglaries. The stuff they stole was strewn everywhere. They were also bragging about stealing all four wheels and tires from a Honda, which they locked in their apartment complex storage locker. He didn’t want me to think he had anything to do with it.

Because of my assignment, I daily got a paper copy of every relevant crime report and recognized most of the crimes about which the young man spoke. I looked up the crooks and while they had misdemeanor records, they weren’t on my radar.

At that point, I certainly had predication—evidence a reasonable cop would believe gave him a legitimate reason to investigate those particular people for potentially committing particular crimes. I didn’t have probable cause for arrest, not yet, so I stopped by the apartment and rang the doorbell. No one was home, but standing at the door, I could see through the picture window. The drapes were open, and there in plain view were plenty of items from burglary reports. I strolled to the storage lockers and the door on their apartment’s numbered locker was damaged, leaving a gap through which I could see tires of the type stolen from the Honda.

Now I had probable cause, so I wrote a search warrant affidavit, presented it to a judge who did due diligence, asked pertinent questions—I took photos--and authorized the search warrant. I recovered all the stolen goods, got confessions that led to more criminals and more stolen goods, made arrests and that was an average day in my last police assignment.

Here's how that applies to John Bolton and what will likely be many more Democrat functionaries. Honest cops are always far too busy to pursue people for no good reason; I averaged 300 open cases. They also have several layers of supervisors who are supposed to ensure they don’t pursue people for no reason, and so are prosecutors and judges. A cop pushing a personal vendetta stands out and is normally stopped very early in the process. If they’re not, that means none of their supervisors, no honest fellow cops, no prosecutor and no judges smelled a very obvious and stinky rat and called foul.

Sure, cops can lie to judges to get warrants—we know Democrats have done that to get Trump—and some judges are too trusting, but fooling everyone in a chain designed to prevent such violations is rare. Or they want to be fooled; they’re in on it.

If a cop is pursuing a personal or political vendetta, it should be obvious to many people in the system, initially or eventually. If they have legitimate predication, if they develop probable cause, that too should be evident. The best evidence of honesty is legitimately obtained evidence of guilt, whether physical, documentary or a confession.

If a cop has legitimate predication, that too will become obvious. At some point, all police documents are public property, though in federal investigations, national security might prevent document release.

As Bolton once observed in the pursuit of Donald Trump, let the process take its course. Evidence talks; partisan accusations walk. We’ll know soon enough.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.