CBS NEWS: Rep. Devin Nunes announces House Intel Committee will launch probe into Clinton-Uranium One deal with Russia pic.twitter.com/y127p56Kcw
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) October 24, 2017
As head of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) wields a lot of power. Unfortunately, it was discovered that he used his position to try to lend credence to unfounded wiretapping claims about Trump Tower, something other Republicans in Congress haven’t been completely onboard with. After working with the White House previously to try and turn President Trump’s tweets into reality, Nunes has been popping up more and more in Russia investigations, despite recusing himself from the House’s own probe.
Recently, President Trump and Fox News have been harping about “real” Russia story — Hillary Clinton selling uranium to Russians. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Nunes has announced a new House probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election that targets Secretary Clinton.
In 2010, a Canadian company called Uranium One, which had mining stakes around the world, was bought by Rosatom, a state-owned Russian corporation, giving Rosatom oversight of one-fifth of U.S. uranium production. Since uranium is considered strategically important, the U.S. government and several of its agencies had to sign off on the deal, which they did. However, the Canadians involved in the deal with Russia were later revealed to have been donors to The Clinton Foundation, and some of the donations were not publicly disclosed. The State Department, headed by Clinton at the time, was also one of the agencies that approved the deal. Former President Bill Clinton was also paid $500,000 to speak in Moscow during the same month the deal went through.
Reportedly, as early as 2009, a year before the deal was approved, the FBI uncovered evidence that Russia was using kickbacks and extortion to gain a foothold in the energy industry, and the Department of Justice kept investigating this angle for another four years.
In Clinton’s defense, the donations to the Clinton Foundation and the speaking fees seem a little low for this type of conspiracy, and, more importantly, several other government agencies she was not the head of (along with the Canadian government) approved the deal.
According to Nunes, the new House probe seeks to learn a few things: “Whether or not there was an FBI investigation: Was there a DOJ investigation? And if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter?”
According to Business Insider:
Asked whether it was appropriate for him to be investigating Russia-related matters after his recusal in April due to ethics concerns over his ties to the White House, Nunes asked reporters to re-read his statement and “stop referring” to his recusal.
Nunes also reportedly added that he’s spent weeks talking to “informants” on the subject, but the White House has nothing to do with his quest.
(Via CBS News, The Hill, Business Insider & Rawstory)