Will Hillary Clinton Go to Jail?

will Hillary Clinton go to jail
Hillary Clinton testifying before the House Select Committee on another scandal - the Benghazi debacle - on Oct. 22, 2015.

Hillary Clinton's "EmailGate" reared its ugly head again last Friday as even more of the former secretary of state's electronic messages were released.

The U.S. State Department specifically released 37 pages' worth from Clinton's former unsecured home server.

Except for 22 emails, that is...

Seven email chains that constitute these 22 correspondences are being safeguarded because they contain information deemed to be "top secret." Even U.S. President Barack Obama's administration admitted, for the first time since the scandal erupted, that certain messages in this latest batch contained some of the U.S. government's most closely guarded secrets.

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told FOX News on Monday that Clinton had to know what she was dealing with.

"Anyone with the capacity to read and an understanding of American national security, an eighth-grade reading level or above, would understand that the release of this information or the potential breach of a non-secure system presented risk to American national security."

To pose such a risk, Pompeo explained, is a criminal act in and of itself. A federal crime - akin to treason.

But will Hillary Clinton go to jail?

Will Hillary Clinton Go to Jail?

A Breakdown of the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal (So Far):

In March 2015, news broke that during her four-year stint as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton conducted all business -- political, public, and private -- solely through her personal email account on a server in her house.

While the biggest concern was originally that Clinton had put information at greater risk of being hacked into than if she'd simply relied on a secured government account, there's now more evidence that she willfully forewent all semblance of regard for national security and actually disclosed "top secret" information via some of these correspondences.

On the dissenting side of the debate sits former Inspector General Howard J. Krongard.

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Krongard told The New York Post on Monday that the current FBI investigation should be focused on more than just Clinton herself. The federal agency, he explained, should focus on how material made it from the classified email system, known as SIPRNet, to Clinton's unclassified private server. "It can't just jump from one system to the other. Someone had to move it, copy it. The question is who did that?"

Krongard said there are three key individuals on Clinton's team just as culpable as she is: Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin, and Clinton's foreign policy advisor Jake Sullivan.

Though a determination has not been made regarding the classified material and how it wound up crossing from one email system to the other, Krongard suggested these staffers are the culprits. He believes they emailed sensitive information by summarizing previously read material and relaying it.

Clinton has tried to minimize responsibility in "EmailGate" by distancing herself from these staffers. She said to George Stephanopoulos on the Jan. 31 broadcast of "This Week" that identifying material as either "classified or unclassified" is the responsibility of someone else "on down the chain."

And even if Clinton is held solely responsible for the matter, Krongard pointed out, an indictment likely wouldn't happen simply because of Clinton's connections. The FBI, he said, would have to "pass through four loyal Democrat women."

The women Krongard referred to are Attorney General Loretta Lynch, her deputies Leslie Caldwell and Sally Yates, and Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama's top advisers.

And they're all deeply loyal to the former secretary of state.

However, on the assenting side of the "indict Hillary" table sits Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who explained to FOX News host Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 31 the reason why Hillary should be indicted.

"For more than 15 years," Issa said, "during my service in government, I've watched the basis under which U.S. attorneys and the attorney general and, of course, the FBI look for cases in which peoples' judgment... make for good prosecutions. This - if it were anything other than Hillary Clinton - would be that case."

Just yesterday, Issa continued to expound on his Clinton indictment theory, telling FOX Business host Trish Regan that "it's important that [FBI Director Comey] act sooner rather than later. He is, in fact, a nonpartisan appointee."

Issa explained that the longer Comey waits, the more he looks beholden to "the administration."

Should Clinton avoid indictment altogether, there's a good chance she'll become president of the United States by the end of 2016. As of right now, she holds 51.8% favorability among Democrats, according to Real Clear Politics.

And as president, she'll face many more firestorms.

One of the most divisive issues will be Social Security reform. Hillary's proposed changes to Social Security benefits controversially target a specific demographic.

But many changes to Social Security are already being put into effect due to a recent vote from Congress (and approval by President Obama). Those who are currently retired or near retirement could easily be affected.

However, there are filing tactics available now to make the most of the current Social Security code - before it disappears as we know it. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars to be made by taking advantage of some of these tactics.

If you've paid 12.4% of your matched income into SSI your whole life - you could be eligible to reap the rewards hidden in the SSI code. Here's how to take back what you've earned before it's too late....

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