Think the email scandal won't take Hillary Clinton down? It could.

It's been nearly a year since reports first surfaced that Clinton used a private email account and server to conduct government business during her tenure as secretary of state. Since then, the State Department has released thousands of pages of emails and the FBI has launched a probe into the matter, the gravity of which has become a political football of sorts.

The Clinton camp insists the email scandal is much ado about nothing -- over the weekend, the former first lady compared it to the Benghazi inquiries and said Republicans were "grasping at straws" with their attacks. But others aren't so sure. Bernie Sanders, her chief rival for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, has called the email question a "very serious issue," and former Vice President Dick Cheney said in a CNNinterview that he, too, thinks it is "pretty serious stuff." Even The New York Times in its endorsement of her acknowledged that questions about her use of a private email server are "legitimate and deserve forthright answers."

"It's an issue that's consumed an enormous amount of news coverage, but it occupies a very small space in the minds of voters," said Jim Papa, a Democratic strategist with the Global Strategy Group.

But as the general election approaches, and amid an increasingnumber of reports that appear to indicate the situation could be at least somewhat serious, that could change.

"This scandal grows worse by the day," said Ron Hosko, the FBI's former assistant director of the criminal investigation division and a 30-year veteran of the bureau.

So, here are the reasons this scandal could be the one to take down Clinton:

1. The investigation is huge.

The scale of the investigation into the issue is indicative of its gravity, said Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

According to a January report from Fox News, citing anonymous sources, about 100 special agents assigned to the investigation have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, and as many as 50 additional agents have been placed on temporary duty assignment.

"You would never put this number of people on the case unless there were a lot of serious matters to investigate and the investigations had shown that there was a lot of smoke there, if not necessarily fire," said Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

2. Intelligence community leaks may be political, but they don't look good.

Fox recently obtained a letter sent by Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III to senior lawmakers indicating that "several dozen" additional classified emails, including those known as "special access programs" (SAP), had been identified. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said Friday that sources have told him the FBI investigation into Clinton is "far more advanced than we the public knows."

According to Lipson, leaks like these and others may be the intelligence community's way of putting pressure on the Department of Justice and the Obama administration to pursue indictments, should the FBI recommend them. "What they were in effect saying was, 'We are not going to participate in a cover-up of this.' Political people ought to know that," he said.

"Leaks happen in Washington, D.C., particularly when it's a politically charged investigation," said John Schindler, a former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer. He added, "More leaks are likely."

3. The too-hot-to-handle emails.

The State Department's decision to withhold 22 emails from release because they are too top secret to be made public isn't a good sign, either. Some question why or how Clinton wouldn't have recognized that such sensitive information should not have been sent, even if it wasn't specifically marked as classified. (State Department spokesman John Kirby has said the documents were not marked as classified when they were sent but are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain sensitive information, reports CNN.)

"She knows the legal rules; she knows she signed a formal document pledging to treat sensitive information in secure ways and acknowledging she would be in violation of the law if she did not. Now we know she ran rough-shod over all these laws, rules and pledges," said Lipson.

4. Plus other scandals.

It's not just the emails that could be problematic, either -- the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by President Bill Clinton when he left office, could be an issue as well. Citing anonymous sources, Fox reported in January that the FBI's investigation has expanded to look at whether the possible intersection of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws.

"If I were Hillary or her legal team, I would be most concerned by recent press reports that the FBI is investigating not just compromises of classified information in her emails, but possible connections to political corruption," said Schindler. "Reports of 'pay for play,' with then-Secretary of State Clinton arranging or enabling sweetheart deals with foreign entities for her husband and the Clinton Global Initiative, have circulated for years. If the FBI can put flesh on those allegations, Hillary will be in a world of legal and political trouble which may sink her presidential ambitions. We'll know about that well before November."

"People who have looked at the Clinton Foundation just say it's an astounding rat's nest of conflict of interest," said Lipson.

What's Next

If the FBI concludes misdeeds were committed by Clinton or her aides, it would be up to the Department of Justice to decide whether to pursue indictments -- which, for the time being, doesn't appear to be happening.

"Based on what we do know from what has been made public, there doesn't seem to be a legitimate basis for any sort of criminal charge against her," wrote Dan Abrams, legal analyst at ABC News, recently.

"I haven't heard of a bunch of subpoenas going out there," Hosko said. "I haven't heard leakage of the FBI or a prosecutor's office pulling in a recalcitrant witness and having discussions about immunizing their testimony."

Should that change, Clinton and the Democratic Party would have some tough choices ahead.

"I don't see how she can run successfully for office if she is indicted," said Lipson, adding that she may not rush to drop out of the race, either However, her ability to raise money and get out a positive message while at the same time preparing a serious criminal defense would be greatly hindered.

If some of her aides are indicted but she is not, Lipson said he believes she would likely continue to run. "What we will have to see at that point is whether or not donors and the party think that they have any other options," he said.

Thus far, Clinton appears to be in the clear, but some are still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"It seems quite unlikely to me that everybody here was telling the truth, nobody here did anything that was a major violation of national security, and the relationship between the [Clinton Foundation] and the Department of State was all clear and above board," said Lipson. "That seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened, and they happen all the time in Washington, which is why the country is furious."