Will Hillary be indicted?

Andy McCarthy joins former Attorney General Michael Mukasey in sensing that there’s a good chance Hillary Clinton will be indicted. He writes:

Jim [Comey, the director of the FBI] is tough, he is smart, and if there is a case to be made here, he will make it. And if he makes it, it will be bulletproof.

Of course, making the case would not mean the FBI could force attorney general Loretta Lynch — and the president to whom she answers — to pursue the case. The FBI cannot convene a grand jury and present an indictment.

But you’d best believe the FBI can make the Obama administration look very bad if it shrinks from doing so. Then it will be a matter of how far Barack Obama is willing to stick his neck out for Hillary Clinton.

I’m betting: not that far.

McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor. Moreover, he worked with James Comey. His opinion should be taken seriously.

My friend Bill Otis is also a former federal prosecutor. He too worked with Comey. His experience encompasses years at Main Justice, years as an assistant U.S. Attorney, and a stint in the White House Counsel’s office.

Bill tells me:

Having worked for a few years with Jim Comey, and admiring his independence (and stubbornness); and having heard one thing and another about Loretta Lynch, although I don’t know her and haven’t met her; and having a sense for the way DOJ operates, I think the chances are better than 50% that Hillary gets indicted.

First, the case on the merits seems strong from what I can gather, and, if standard practice holds true, is stronger than public sources have yet disclosed.

Second, while Lynch is capable of bending to pressure — I know of one case in which she caved to a district judge she knew was up to some very questionable behavior — she likes to think of herself as rule-bound, virtuous and “speaking truth to power,” as the Left never tires of lecturing. She is in some ways an old-fashioned person.

I thus think she will go along with a recommendation to indict. I doubt this will get overruled at the White House, since (1) Obama seemingly doesn’t care for Hillary, although I don’t know that from any first-hand sources; and (2) Obama, being no dummy as a Democratic politician, probably thinks that Hillary will lose the general election, and would prefer a different candidate.

I don’t think that, even in a culture as degraded as this one has become, a major party can nominate a Presidential candidate under credible indictment.

My view is that the actions of Lynch and Obama will probably depend on the timing of any recommendation to indict in relation to the election cycle. But Mukasey, McCarthy, and Otis (a good name for a law firm) know more about these things than I do.

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