Will Hillary Clinton Be Indicted?

Republicans fantasize about a throng of FBI agents swooping into Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters and hauling her off in handcuffs.  They daydream about the Democratic presidential front-runner decked out in an orange jumpsuit lolling in a prison exercise yard.

Their swooning has taken social media by storm.  Thousands of posts on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other sites feature unflattering images of Ms. Clinton in prison garb, behind bars or on trial. Judging from the content, the former First Lady's critics have no doubt about her guilt.

However, the decision on her legal future rests primarily with the FBI. There is a cadre of 147 FBI agents investigating Ms. Clinton's use of a private email server to receive and transmit classified materials. That information comes from The Washington Post, a liberal iconic newspaper.

The crux of the investigation revolves around whether Ms. Clinton or her aides knowingly communicated government secrets over a non-secure email system while she served as Secretary of State.  Legal experts point out it does not matter if the emails were marked classified or not.

Every government official, including cabinet level executives, are obligated to recognize sensitive material and protect against its release to unauthorized individuals or organizations. No one gets a "Get Out Of Jail" card if the material does not carry the "Classified" stamp.

The episode has raised questions about Ms. Clinton's judgment.  But Clinton surrogates have trotted out their standard defense of "everyone else does it," as if that justifies illegal behavior.  Her own public utterances about the FBI inquiry have been carefully parsed and not very forthcoming.

However, none of this matters to the Clinton Campaign.  They swear that voters have "largely dismissed" the email issue.  That is a gratuitous opinion.  A majority of Democratic primary voters (56%) view her as untrustworthy.  Her unfavorable ratings are among the highest of all candidates.

Despite news leaks about mounting evidence against Ms. Clinton, the email scandal likely will not end with an indictment.  No clear thinking person actually believes the Obama Administration will allow any Democrat to suffer the indignation of a criminal prosecution based on its history.

Investigations of the Obama Administration and its top officials suffer early deaths.  Benghazi went nowhere.  The IRS scandal evaporated. The Veterans Affairs dust up has been buried.  Meanwhile, the sycophant news media looks the other way and chastises Republicans for chasing ghosts.

Some guardians of justice point to the stubborn independence of FBI Director James Comey as reason to expect felony charges.  The six-foot-eight-inch tall lawman served as deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush, burnishing his credentials as even-handed.

However, Comey serves at the pleasure of the president.  What if Comey suddenly steps down under pressure?  Sure there would be howls of protest, but so what?  This is an administration that has shown it has no shame when it comes jettisoning those who disagree with its political objectives.

Even if Comey recommends a criminal charge, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has the final word on prosecution.  There is no doubt Ms. Lynch will carry out the president's wishes in this matter.  Her office will either dismiss the complaint or foot-drag past the election before dropping the case.

If the president did not plan to run interference for Mrs. Clinton, he would have encouraged his trusted Vice President Joe Biden to enter the presidential race long ago. Only the naive would hold to the notion that Mrs. Clinton has not obtained assurances from Mr. Obama about the outcome.

The betting here is that the FBI will find no criminal wrongdoing, but will issue a strongly worded reprimand for her use of a private server to conduct classified government business.  A contrite Mrs. Clinton will offer a half-hearted apology and the incident will be off limits during the campaign.

Truth has never been an admired virtue of Mrs. Clinton or her husband. They prevaricate, deconstruct and evade.  Every moral or legal infraction ends the same. The Clintons are political Houdini's who always escape responsibility for their misdeeds.