The Hill just published an article containing new information on Russian bribes, Hillary Clinton and the sale of Uranium One to Russia.
The article is titled, FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow. For those unfamiliar, The Hill is actually a Center-Left publication…
While we have previously known some sordid details about the Uranium One transaction…
Clinton’s approval of the Uranium One deal while Secretary of State, transferred more than 20% of the U.S. uranium supply to Russia. The Clinton Foundation received $31 million with a pledge for $100 million more as a result. Ultimately, the Clinton Foundation received $145 million in “donations” from nine shareholders of Uranium One. Most of these “donations” were not legally disclosed by the Clinton Foundation.
…details regarding the DOJ’s and FBI’s knowledge of bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering by Russia at the time of the Uranium One transaction is new information.
If public, this information would almost certainly have prevented approval of Uranium One’s sale to Russia. From The Hill’s article:
Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.
Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.
They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.
It gets worse:
Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefitting Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions.
The first decision occurred in October 2010, when the State Department and government agencies on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States unanimously approved the partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, giving Moscow control of more than 20 percent of America’s uranium supply.
In 2011, the administration gave approval for Rosatom’s Tenex subsidiary to sell commercial uranium to U.S. nuclear power plants in a partnership with the United States Enrichment Corp.
“The Russians were compromising American contractors in the nuclear industry with kickbacks and extortion threats, all of which raised legitimate national security concerns. And none of that evidence got aired before the Obama administration made those decisions.”
The Obama Administration and State Department did not disclose any of this information at the time of the Uranium One deal:
The Obama administration and the Clintons defended their actions at the time, insisting there was no evidence that any Russians or donors engaged in wrongdoing and there was no national security reason for any member of the committee to oppose the Uranium One deal.
But FBI, Energy Department and court documents reviewed by The Hill show the FBI in fact had gathered substantial evidence well before the committee’s decision that Vadim Mikerin — the main Russian overseeing Putin’s nuclear expansion inside the United States — was engaged in wrongdoing starting in 2009.
Then-Attorney General Eric Holder was among the Obama administration officials joining Hillary Clinton on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the time the Uranium One deal was approved. Multiple current and former government officials told The Hill they did not know whether the FBI or DOJ ever alerted committee members to the criminal activity they uncovered.
The investigations into Russian bribery were shielded from public – and Congressional – view:
The final court case also made no mention of any connection to the influence peddling conversations the FBI undercover informant witnessed about the Russian nuclear officials trying to ingratiate themselves with the Clintons even though agents had gathered documents showing the transmission of millions of dollars from Russia’s nuclear industry to an American entity that had provided assistance to Bill Clinton’s foundation, sources confirmed to The Hill.
The lack of fanfare left many key players in Washington with no inkling that a major Russian nuclear corruption scheme with serious national security implications had been uncovered.
I am hearing this story is the first of new disclosures – with a related second part story coming shortly. There may also be additional disclosures coming soon via WikiLeaks.
There has never been any Trump-Russian Collusion. Any collusion with Russia has always lain squarely between Hillary and the Obama Administration. I have discussed this many times in the past. See, here, here, here, here and here.
I have also discussed Clinton’s involvement with Russia and the Uranium One transaction several times before:
Here are some highlights from a report by the conservative non-profit Government Accountability Institute on the Clinton’s involvement with Russia:
- A major technology transfer component of the Russian reset overseen by Hillary Clinton substantially enhanced the Russian military’s technological capabilities, according to both the FBI and the U.S. Army.
- Russian government officials and American corporations participated in the technology transfer project overseen by Hillary Clinton’s State Department that funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.
- A Putin-connected Russian government fund transferred $35 million to a small company with Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta on its executive board, which included senior Russian officials.
- John Podesta failed to reveal, as required by law on his federal financial disclosures, his membership on the board of this offshore company.
- Podesta also headed up a think tank which wrote favorably about the Russian reset while apparently receiving millions from Kremlin-linked Russian oligarchs via an offshore LLC.
The report contains 13 pages of sourcing footnotes. It all makes for interesting reading.
For me, the most egregious violation [with Russia] was the Uranium One transaction. Clinton’s approval of the Uranium One deal while Secretary of State, transferred more than 20% of the U.S. uranium supply to the Russians. The Clinton Foundation received $31 million with a pledge for $100 million more as a result. Ultimately, the Clinton Foundation received $145 million in “donations” from nine shareholders of Uranium One. Most of these “donations” were not legally disclosed by the Clinton Foundation.
The Uranium One story was first unearthed by Peter Schweizer and detailed later in his book Clinton Cash. The New York Times did a lengthy story on the situation based on information from Schweizer – they also did their own parallel investigation. It makes for a fascinating, damning and chilling read. You can find the Times article here. Peter Schweizer himself runs through a litany of Clinton-Russian involvement in a recent article you can find here.
We also have the disturbing story of the infamous Fusion GPS Trump dossier and the manner in which it highlighted collusion between… Democrats and Russia. You may find more details here.
It turns out that Fusion GPS was employed by the Russian government – at the exact same time that Fusion commissioned the Trump dossier.
Stop and think on that a moment.
The FBI was actually utilizing propaganda potentially commissioned by Russia as a reason for launching the entire Trump-Russian investigation in the first place.
If the Russians wanted Trump to win, why would they have allowed, let alone helped in, the production of the Trump dossier?
The obvious answer is the Russians didn’t want Trump to win. And why would they? Historically, all Russian ties lie with Clinton – the Uranium One travesty, the Russia Reset, Bill Clinton’s $500,000 Moscow speech – while Hillary was Secretary of State – and the Russian donations to the Clinton Foundation. Meanwhile, President Trump steadfastly maintained – and followed through on – a program of national energy self-sufficiency. U.S. oil production is booming. This is a direct threat to Russia’s primary source of cash…
…The Democrat’s Russian narrative is dead. There is zero evidence that Russia was working with the Trump Campaign. There is very real evidence that just the opposite was occurring. It appears that Russia may have been colluding with Democrats.
Lindsey Graham from a CNN interview:
“If we have to subpoena the people at Fusion GPS, we need to subpoena them. Because Mr. Browder has now accused them of working for the Russians. And at the end of the day, if that’s true, the Democratic Party is working with somebody who was working with the Russians, whether they knew it or not.”
I have always maintained this entire Russian collusion story was entirely backwards. Now we are beginning to get proof.
I’m guessing this will be only one of multiple revelations that will finally expose where the true Russian Collusion has always existed.
With Hillary, the Clinton Foundation, the Obama Administration – and Democrats.
newer post Russian Collusion – Part II – Corruption, Clinton & Obama
older post The Consumer Confidence Conundrum