Prosecutors at the Justice Department are reportedly asking FBI agents about the 2010 Uranium One scandal upon the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions — suggesting the controversy will continue to make headlines throughout 2018.
NBC News reports that the investigators are looking into whether a special counsel is necessary to investigate the 2010 sale of the Canadian energy firm — and 20 percent of American uranium — to Russian energy giant Rosatom.
Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer broke the scandal in his 2015 book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich. In the book, he reported that Clinton’s State Department, along with other federal agencies, approved the sale and that nine foreign investors in the deal gave $145 million to Hillary and Bill Clinton’s personal charity, the Clinton Foundation.
The New York Times confirmed Schweizer’s Uranium One revelations in a 4,000-word front-page story. The scandal hurt Clinton throughout her doomed presidential campaign and hit the headlines this year again in October, when The Hill reported that ahead of the deal, the FBI had uncovered “substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering” to expand Russia’s nuclear footprint in the U.S. as early as 2009.
According to The Hill, the agency also found that Russian nuclear officials had routed “millions of dollars” to the U.S. to benefit the Clinton Foundation, once again raising the specter of “pay-to-play.” Clinton has furiously denied the claims and has maintained the scandal has been debunked.
The revelations have caused Republicans, including President Trump, to call for fresh investigations into what was known about Russia bribery by Obama administration officials.
According to NBC News, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd has written to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), saying that lawyers will make recommendations to Sessions about whether an investigation should be opened and whether a special counsel will be necessary.
The outlet reports that FBI agents have been asked to describe the results of their investigation and if there was an “improper effort” to shut down a prosecution. A DOJ official said that it was part of an effort to get the investigators up to date on the case in the wake of recent revelations.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.
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