CLOSING IN ON CLINTON – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  As Charles Krauthammer pointed out, Hillary Clinton has now lost control of a situation she has tried hard to contain.  From Fox: 

The FBI has taken possession of the personal e-mail server used by Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state, according to a published report.

Barbara Wells, an attorney for Denver-based computer services firm Platte River Networks, told The Washington Post that federal agents picked up the server from a private data center in New Jersey Wednesday afternoon. The attorney told the paper that the server "was blank" and no longer contained useful information.

"The information had been migrated over to a different server for purposes of transition," Wells told the paper. "To my knowledge the data on the old server is not available now on any servers or devices in Platte River Network’s control." Wells added that the company had cooperated with the FBI and had been told it was not a target of the investigation.

The Justice Department is looking into whether classified information was improperly stored on or passed through the server, which Clinton used for all her correspondence during her time as secretary of state.

The Post reported that Platte River Networks had been hired by former President Bill and Hillary Clinton to upgrade their private e-mail network in June 2013, after Hillary Clinton had left the State Department. As part of the job, the old server was taken from the basement of the Clintons' Chappaqua, N.Y. home and moved to the New Jersey data center.

Clinton announced that she would turn the server over to the FBI Tuesday. That same day, Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III told members of Congress that at least two emails that traversed the device while she was secretary of state contained information that warranted one of the government's highest levels of classification.

COMMENT:  Hillary Clinton is in serious trouble.  As it's been pointed out, if an ordinary government employee did what she did, that employee would face grim legal consequences. 

Will this probe end Clinton's candidacy for president.  Well, she's in the modern Democratic Party, which has shown a remarkable tolerance for bad behavior.  Exhibit A:  her husband.  Exhibit B:  Al Sharpton.  But Clinton's poll numbers are declining, and there seems to be little upside for her.  And if she's indicted?  I can't see how she could stay in the race, although she's a Clinton.

August 13,  2015