Top staffers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign got heads-up from a Clinton Foundation senior vice-president that the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was asking the Department of Justice to investigate the State Department approval of the sale of American uranium assets to a Russian company.
The email traffic is part of some hacked emails belonging to John Podesta, the chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign. It was posted on the WikiLeaks website.
This thread of emails demonstrates the routine and intimate interaction between members of the campaign staff and the Clinton Foundation.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), in a June 30, 2015 letter pointed out the for a matter of such importance, nearly 25 percent of the country’s uranium deposits, the transaction was approved very quickly.
Maura Pally, who handles communications at the foundation sent Podesta the email at 12:18 p.m.
Putting on all of your radars that Grassley sent a letter to AG Lynch (dated June 30th though we just saw it) asking questions about contributions to the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One deal. Letter is attached. Craig is connecting with comms team to be sure they are aware as well.
Podesta then forwarded the email to the next tier down: jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com, kschake@hillaryclinton.com, tcarrk@hillaryclinton.com, creynolds@hillaryclinton.com roughly 90 minutes later at 1:49 p.m.
That is Jennifer Palmeiri, who was President Barack Obama’s director of communications before joining the Clinton campaign; Kristina Schake, one of the campaign’s deputy communications directors; Tony Carrk, the campaign’s research director and Christina Reynolds, another deputy campaign director.
Remember, Podesta is the campaign chairman.
Remember, too, that Podesta’s company received a $35 million investment from a Russian company that the FBI warned was seeking to steal America technology and intellectual property in 2014..
In the letter, Grassley spelled out his concerns:
On April 23, The New York Times reported on details regarding the Clinton Foundation’s ties to a number of investors involved in a business transaction that resulted in the acquisition of Uranium One, owner of U.S. based uranium assets, by Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), a subsidiary of Rosatom, a Russian government owned company. The transaction raised a number of national security concerns because it effectively ceded 20% of U.S. uranium production capacity to the Russian government.
Due to that foreign involvement, a review of the transaction was conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), whose membership includes the Secretary of State and of which Treasury is the chair. In addition, during critical stages of the acquisition approval, interested parties made large donations – some in the millions of dollars – to the Clinton Foundation while Ms. Hillary Clinton held the position of Secretary of State. When millions of dollars flow to decision makers who have substantial discretion to provide support for or against approval of controversial transactions, public confidence in the integrity of the process requires a commitment to transparency and responsiveness to oversight inquiries.
After listing his concerns, Grassley requested the attorney general provide him with answers by July 16, 2016:
The risk of conflicts with Secretary Clinton at State was so great that the Clinton Foundation and the Obama Administration entered into a memorandum of understanding which, in part, required donations to be disclosed. However, millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation from executives with an interest in the Uranium One/ARMZ transaction were not disclosed, breaching the agreement.
Accordingly, please answer the following:
1. What role did the Department of Justice play in the Uranium One/ARMZ transaction? Please explain in detail.
2. Please list the Department of Justice personnel that were involved in the Uranium One/ARMZ transaction.
3. Did Secretary Clinton’s relationship with the Clinton Foundation require her to recuse herself from the CFIUS’s review of the Uranium One/ARMZ transaction? If so, did she
recuse herself? If the relationship did not require recusal, please explain why not.
4. Was Attorney General Holder briefed by Department of Justice personnel regarding the Uranium
At least, Podesta has a sense of humor.
One minute before he told the top communications officials at the Clinton campaign that the House Judiciary Committee was demanding a ?DOJ investigation into the uranium transaction and its approval by the State Department, he shot a quick replay to Maura Pally, the woman, who gave him the heads-up: “Thanks, I think.”
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