Why Hillary Clinton finally caved and turned over her email server

March 10, 2015: Hillary Rodham Clinton answers questions at a news conference at the United Nations. Clinton conceded that she should have used a government email to conduct business as secretary of state, saying her decision was simply a matter of "convenience." (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Imagine the scene splashed across television sets all over America.

Dozens of FBI agents, armed with a  warrant in search of Hillary Clinton's e-mail server, banging on the door of her home or a storage facility or both.  They soon emerge with computer equipment and boxes.  A phalanx of television cameras beam the live pictures to viewers everywhere.  The footage is played over and over in an endless loop of media stories.

The images are so severe and presumptive of guilt that they are indelible.  They can never be expunged from the minds of skeptical voters, even if no incriminating evidence is ever found.

It is the end of Hillary Clinton’s presidential dreams. 

This is what Clinton was facing if she did not voluntarily relinquish her personal e-mail server to the Department of Justice.   You can bet her attorneys laid out for her this vivid scenario if she continued to refuse access.

So don’t believe for one moment that Clinton’s decision to suddenly “cooperate” was magnanimous.  She had no choice. After five months of kicking and screaming in her vow to never hand over the server, she was finally up against the wall.

Don’t believe for one moment that Clinton’s decision to suddenly “cooperate” was magnanimous. She had no choice.

The FBI, which is investigating whether classified information was improperly contained on her private e-mail system, is legally entitled to seize the server as potential evidence.  They could do it the ugly way, with a warrant and a highly visible and damning search of the premises.  Or they could do it in the least damaging way, with Clinton’s consent.  The latter would allow her to spin it in the light most favorable to her.

By her own actions, Clinton dealt herself a Hobson's choice.