Veteran journalist Ronald Kessler tells
Newsmax TV that Hillary Clinton will likely be indicted before the general election for using a private email server to conduct classified government business as secretary of state — but will likely be pardoned by President Barack Obama.
"Definitely before November. Possibly in a month or two," Kessler said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
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Existing law is very broad, making it a felony to handle classified information with gross negligence, Kessler said. "By definition, putting classified information on an unsecured server is gross negligence.
"You saw President Obama trying to make excuses for her. I think he's leading up to giving a pardon to Hillary, but there's no question. She will be indicted," Kessler said.
"Jim Comey, the FBI director, is a man of great integrity. I think [Attorney General] Loretta Lynch is as well … not political in the way Eric Holder was. No question she will be indicted."
Kessler — a former Washington Post reporter and author of
"The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents," published by Crown Forum — said that even if Clinton is pardoned, the damage will have been done.
"Either way, she's going to be besmirched and it's possible that [Vice President Joe] Biden might step in," he told Malzberg.
Kessler also praised Donald Trump as a candidate who would be very different operating in the White House than how he appears on the campaign trail.
"People don't understand about Donald that there are two Donald Trumps. One is the guy you see on TV who makes these provocative comments to get attention," Kessler said.
"But as we get more into the general election, he's going to start behaving like the Donald Trump I know … and that is a very competent, reasonable guy who built this great empire. $10 billion in assets, 22,500 employees — he didn't do that by being a bigot or by being an idiot."
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