"Why is this a political football?"
Only because he was able to keep the police at bay for nearly 20 hours, preventing a legal investigation and using his "secret service" to enforce it. This is a man whom we are supposed to trust as a commander (if need be), not one who runs from the law to protect his ass.
If someone has to explain this to you, then you are another one of those people with that early German mentality who believed everything their leader said that took their country straight to hell.