DOJ Prosecutors Ask FBI Agents to Hand Over Info on Uranium One Deal

DOJ Prosecutors Ask FBI Agents to Hand Over Info on Uranium One Deal

According to NBC News, Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have started to ask FBI agents to hand over information on the infamous Uranium One deal that took place in 2010. President Barack Obama’s administration allowed Russia’s state atomic energy company Rosatom to purchase US uranium mining facilities.

Evidence has surfaced that some of those involved donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. Who was secretary of state at the time? None other than failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Investigation

In November, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee he already told federal prosecutors to investigate if the department needs to assign a special counsel.

One official associated with the initial investigation “told NBC News there were allegations of corruption surrounding the process under which the U.S. government approved the sale.” No one filed charges.

Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) to tell him that “Justice Department lawyers would make recommendations to Sessions about whether an investigation should be opened or expanded, or whether special counsel should be appointed to probe a number of issues of concern to Republicans.”

NBC News reported:

In recent weeks, FBI agents who investigated the case have been asked by Justice Department prosecutors to describe the results of their probe. The agents also have been asked if there was any improper effort to squash a prosecution, the law enforcement sources say.

The senior Justice Department official said the questions were part of an effort by the Sessions team to get up to speed on the controversial case, in the face of allegations from Congressional Republicans that it was mishandled.

Uranium One History

A committee made up of representatives from different government agencies had to approve the sale to Russia because “uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security.” This included the State Department.

The Canadian company Uranium One officially sold “a majority stake to the mining arm of Rosatom.” The company owned “uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West” and “made Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers.”

The deal went through in June 2010 when “Uranium One’s two licensed mining operations in Wyoming amounted to about 20 percent of all uranium mining production capacity in the U.S.” It has gone down since then.

Even before the Clinton connection came to light, people did not agree with the deal. Those who backed it pointed out “that Russians don’t have a license to export the uranium out of the U.S.” so officials found the deal did not pose a national security risk to us.

The Clinton Connection

A New York Times report from April 2015 first brought up the ties between the Clinton Foundation and the deal:

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been repeatedly broken, records show.

Hillary has denied she had a role in the State Department’s decision.

FBI Undercover Agent

Through October, The Hill published articles about an undercover FBI agent who accused Obama’s DOJ of blocking him from speaking to Congress “about conversations and transactions he witnessed related to the Russian nuclear industry’s efforts to win favor with Bill and Hillary Clinton and influence Obama administration decisions.”

This informant worked in an FBI probe into Russia’s nuclear industry. He took a job at Russia’s main nuclear energy company Rosatom’s Tenex subsidiary during its “multiyear campaign to grow Moscow’s uranium business inside the United States.”

These records refer to the FBI informant as “confidential source 1,” “contractor,” and “Victim 1.” Toensing said this man is her client. It also shows that her client went to the FBI in 2009 “after Russian officials asked him to engage in illegal activity.”

The FBI allowed the informant to hand out “kickback payments to the Russians” as he gathered other evidence.

The Hill heard from sources that this informant led the government “to crack a multimillion dollar racketeering scheme by Russian nuclear officials on U.S. soil that involved bribery, kickbacks, money laundering and extortion.” This led to an executive to expand the nuclear business, an executive at a U.S. trucking firm, and Russian financier from New Jersey to plead “guilty to various crimes in a case that started in 2009 and ended in late 2015.”

The documents that the informant has shows connections between the Clintons and Obama:

The information the client possesses includes specific allegations that Russian executives made to him about how they facilitated the Obama administration’s 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal and sent millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to the U.S. to an entity assisting Bill Clinton’s foundation. At the time, Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of State on the government panel that approved the deal, the lawyer said.

It has been previously reported that Bill Clinton accepted $500,000 in Russian speaking fees in 2010 and collected millions more in donations for his foundation from parties with a stake in the Uranium One deal, transactions that both the Clintons and the Obama administration denied had any influence on the approval.

Federal law requires officials such as then-Secretary Clinton to avoid both conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts when it comes to the business and financial interests of a spouse. Clinton signed a special agreement when she became secretary to disclose her husband’s charitable donations to the State Department to avoid any such conflicts. Both Clintons have repeatedly insisted no donations raised by the foundation ever influenced her decisions.

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