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FOIA Documents, FBI Preservation Requests, the CFIUS & Uranium One

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By now, everyone is aware – at least to some extent – of Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the Uranium One transaction. It ultimately generated almost $150 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation and resulted in the sale of 20% of U.S. Uranium to Russia.

It was a transaction that should never have been allowed to occur.

It turns out there may be much more to the story.

As noted in a damning article from the Conservative Treehouse:

Internet researcher Katica (Twitter GOPollAnalyst) may have found the hidden thread that unravels a much bigger story within the Uranium One-Clinton-FBI scandal.

I will return to this later on.

I have written about Uranium One numerous times – including two recent articles, Russian Collusion – Bribes, Coverups, Clinton & Uranium One and Russian Collusion – Part II – Corruption, Clinton & Obama.

A common rebuttal to criticisms of the Uranium One transaction is that no uranium was actually allowed to leave the U.S. – something the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) supposedly assured Congress at the time of the transaction.

What the NRC noted in a 2011 letter to Senator John Barrasso was a bit different:

At this time, neither Uranium One Inc. nor ARMZ holds a specific NRC export license. In order to export uranium from the United States, Uranium One, Inc. or ARMZ would need to apply for and obtain a specific NRC license authorizing the export of uranium for use in reactor fuel. Before issuing such a license, the NRC would have to determine that the proposed export would not be inimical to the common defense and security of the United States.

It turns out the NRC quietly granted export licenses to RSB Logistics. Licenses that added Uranium One to the list of RSB clients for whom RSB could move uranium. As noted in a November 2, 2017 article titled, Uranium One Deal Led to Some Exports to Europe.

NRC memos reviewed by The Hill show that it did approve the shipment of yellowcake uranium — the raw material used to make nuclear fuel and weapons — from the Russian-owned mines in the United States to Canada in 2012 through a third party. Later, the Obama administration approved some of that uranium going all the way to Europe, government documents show.

NRC officials said they could not disclose the total amount of uranium that Uranium One exported because the information is proprietary. They did, however, say that the shipments only lasted from 2012 to 2014 and that they are unaware of any exports since then.

NRC officials told The Hill that Uranium One exports flowed from Wyoming to Canada and on to Europe between 2012 and 2014, and the approval involved a process with multiple agencies.

Rather than give Rosatom a direct export license — which would have raised red flags inside a Congress already suspicious of the deal — the NRC in 2012 authorized an amendment to an existing export license for a Paducah, Ky.-based trucking firm called RSB Logistics Services Inc. to simply add Uranium One to the list of clients whose uranium it could move to Canada.

The license, reviewed by The Hill, is dated March 16, 2012, and it increased the amount of uranium ore concentrate that RSB Logistics could ship to the Cameco Corp. plant in Ontario from 7,500,000 kilograms to 12,000,000 kilograms and added Uranium One to the “other parties to Export.”

Uranium One’s American arm emailed a statement to The Hill:

“None of the US U308 product produced to date has been sold to non-US customers except for approximately 25% which was sold via book transfer at the conversion facilities to customers from Western Europe and Asia,” executive Donna Wickers said. “Any physical export of the product from conversion facilities to non-US destinations is under the control of such customers and subject to NRC regulation.”

The United States actually imports the majority of the uranium it uses as fuel. In 2016, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 24 percent of the imports came from Kazakhstan and 14 percent came from Russia.

However, Russia didn’t buy Uranium One just for its U.S. assets. The Russians bought Uranium One primarily for its Kazakhstan uranium assets. From diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks:

Uranium One has a 70 percent interest in a joint venture with KAP [Kazatomprom – Kazakhstan’s national nuclear energy company] that owns the Akdala Uranium Mine — which is currently in operation — and the South Inkai Uranium Project, which commenced pre-commercial production in 2007. Uranium One also has a 30 percent interest in a joint venture with KAP that is developing the Kharasan Uranium Project.

On June 15, [2009] Uranium One announced that it agreed to acquire a 50 percent interest in Kazakhstan’s Karatau Uranium Mine from JSC Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), a Russian state-owned mining company.

The transaction gives Uranium One exclusive rights to negotiate the purchase of ARMZ’s 50 percent in the Akbastau uranium project, which is in pilot production and is adjacent to the Karatau uranium mine. “This gives us a chance to increase our economies of scale in Kazakhtan. The mines are close together, which makes it easier for us to manage our assets,” [Jean] Nortier [Uranium One CEO] said.

The purchase agreement gives ARMZ 117 million common shares of Uranium One [17% ownership stake by Russia] and a cash payment of $90 million.

On June 10, [2009] Paul Lewis Clarke, Senior Vice President of Uranium One, told Energy Officer that he is concerned that the Prosecutor General’s investigation of Dzhakishev will call into question the legitimacy of the company’s mining licenses at the Akdala, South Inkai, and Kharasan mines. These licenses were obtained from Kazatomprom by offshore companies that sold them to UrAsia Energy [Frank Giustra’s company], which Uranium One acquired in 2007.

“We want something more than a statement to the press,” said Clarke. “We need official confirmation, in writing, from Shkolnik or Samruk-Kazyna, that these licenses are still valid.” Clarke, who warned Energy Officer that “our conversation is being monitored,” noted that Uranium One’s transactions were approved by many of the same people still in power, including Minister of Defense Daniel Akhmetov, who was then Prime Minister, and Kazatomprom president Shkolnik, then the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources.

In June 2010, Uranium One acquired 50% and 49% respective interests in southern Kazakhstan-based Akbastau and Zarechnoye uranium mines from ARMZ (Russia).

In exchange, ARMZ (Russia) increased its stake in Uranium One from 17% to 51%. This required approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In January 2013, ARMZ (Russia) took complete control of Uranium One in a transaction which was again approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

For a more detailed examination of the entire sequences of events see this illuminating 2015 article from the New York Times, Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amidst Russian Uranium Deal.

While the above transactions were taking place, the following activities were occurring in Washington. From Circa:

Fifteen months before the 13 members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, approved the sale of the Canadian company Uranium One to Russia’s nuclear arm giant Rosatom, the FBI began investigating persons who were connected to the Russian state corporation. The FBI said in court documents and in interviews conducted by Circa that by 2010 they had gathered enough evidence to prove that Rosatom-connected officials were engaged in a global bribery schedule that included kickbacks and money laundering. FBI officials said the investigation could have prevented the sale of Uranium One, which controlled 20 percent of U.S. uranium supply under U.S. law.

Fast forward to yesterday.

Part 15 of the Hillary Clinton FBI Investigation Document Dump hit.

It started so simply:

Then this:

And this:

Which led to this:

From Conservative Treehouse’s article, Uranium One: Previously Undiscovered FOIA Documents Could Be Game-Changer in Investigation:

What is interesting about the preservation request(s) are the recipients, their attachment to CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States), and the timeline of events surrounding the agent’s notification.

Sometime around August 3rd, 2015, we discovered the FBI inquiry was actually a “criminal probe“.  [USA Today August 4th] – [Washington Post August 3rd] – [New York Post, August 5th, 2015]  The media reporting in early August of 2015 showed the FBI investigation was actually a criminal probe.   The dates here are important.

Later confirmation of a criminal probe into the Clinton Foundation came from Bret Baier.

The discovery by Katica shows that on August 28th, 2015, an FBI special agent sent a notification to preserve records to: •Nuclear Regulatory Commission; •The U.S. Dept. of Treasury; •Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI James Clapper); •The National Counter Terrorism Center; and the •U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).

Each of these agencies was intricately involved in the 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal. Indeed, each of these specific agencies is involved in the CFIUS approval process for the purchase within the Uranium One deal.  Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State at the time.

Five Days later, on September 2nd, 2015, the FBI special agent sent another notification for preservation of records to the same agencies -beginning with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission- and adding: the National Security Agency (NSA – Admiral Mike Rogers) and the United States Secret Service (USSS).

The following day, on September 3rd, 2015, the FBI special agent submitted a supplemental notification for preservation of records to: •The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), •Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and •The Department of Defense.

Taken in their totality those FBI special agent notifications now encompassed every member of the CFIUS group who “signed off” on approval of the Uranium One deal.

It would be intellectually dishonest not to see the very likely attachment of the special agent’s action. That is to say an FBI probe originating as an outcome of information retrieved in parallel to the timing of the “criminal probe” of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email use.

The sequence of events highlights a criminal probe starting [early August 2015], followed by notifications to the “Uranium One” CFIUS participants [late August 2015].

Congress can get, and see, those FBI preservation notification documents without redaction. Congress could then interview the FBI special agent who was obviously in charge of key elements within the 2015 probe. Put the FBI special agent together with the unnamed FBI informant, question them, and discover what they know about the entire Uranium One deal – and there’s the road-map to tear this thing wide open.

Note who actually comprises the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States):

CFIUS is comprised of the heads of almost every single major department under the Obama Administration.

The FBI sent Preservation and Records Requests to the following agencies:

  • Nuclear Regulatory Commission
  • The U.S. Dept. of Treasury
  • The Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI James Clapper)
  • The National Counter Terrorism Center
  • The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE)
  • The National Security Agency (NSA – Admiral Mike Rogers)
  • The United States Secret Service (USSS)
  • The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
  • The Department of Defense.

Equally important is the one agency left off the list:

Hillary Clinton’s State Department…

For those who notice another ommission, reminder: The FBI is a subset of the Department of Justice.

Julian Assange hinted at the magnitude of Uranium One when he released John Podesta’s emails. His opening statement to the Podesta release contained the following comment:

In April 2015 the New York Times published a story about a company called “Uranium One” which was sold to Russian government-controlled interests, giving Russia effective control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for the production of nuclear weapons, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of US government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off the deal was the State Department, then headed by Secretary Clinton. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) comprises, among others, the secretaries of the Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy.

As Russian interests gradually took control of Uranium One millions of dollars were donated to the Clinton Foundation between 2009 and 2013 from individuals directly connected to the deal including the Chairman of Uranium One, Ian Telfer. Although Mrs Clinton had an agreement with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors to the Clinton Foundation, the contributions from the Chairman of Uranium One were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons.

I thought had a grasp of the scandal’s magnitude.

I was wrong.

This is bigger. Much bigger.

Disclosures of Democrat-related scandals are now coming at a furious pace. You can expect an indictment of Tony and/or John Podesta shortly. Each day seems to bring new revelations. It’s becoming difficult to keep up.

As I’ve said before, the days and weeks ahead are going to get interesting.

This is just the beginning…

 

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