By recommending that Hillary Clinton not face trial for keeping classified documents on a private email server, FBI Director James Comey may have done the impossible: Ending the way the Clintons have done business for the past thirty years and — thus far — gotten away with it.

If the past is any guideline, Clinton’s trial would have lasted decades, with her (and her husband) doing their level best to avoid cooperating with the prosecution, dragging out the process long past its expiration date in the public’s mind. From Whitewater, to Lewinsky, to Benghazi, to the Clinton Foundation, to this, the Clintons’ modus operandi has always been to delay the pre-trial process for as long as possible in order to make the dogged determination for justice look like a partisan witch hunt.

But not yesterday. Yesterday, Director Comey made it very clear: Hillary Clinton was guilty, but she was not going to have her day in court. With his statement, the FBI director did more damage to Hillary than Ken Starr ever did to Bill, who was acquitted of perjury and obstruction of justice by the Senate, allowing him to portray his prosecution as partisan-based, giving him a platform from which to rebuild his reputation.