What is the Uranium One deal and why does the Trump administration care so much?
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is weighing whether to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton and an Obama administration decision in 2010 to allow a Russian nuclear agency to buy a company that had access to the U.S. uranium supply.
What is Uranium One?
Uranium One, with headquarters in Canada, is one of the world’s largest producers of uranium with holdings in the United States. It is a subsidiary of the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom.
At the time of the Obama administration decision to allow Rosatom to buy Uranium One, Clinton — Trump’s opponent in the 2016 presidential race — was secretary of state. People associated with Uranium One had donated millions of dollars to the Clinton family’s charitable organization, the Clinton Foundation. Because the State Department was one of nine U.S. government agencies that signed off on the deal, questions have been raised about whether there were any connections between deal’s approval and the donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Some ties between Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation were disclosed in a book by Peter Schweizer, a former fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and frequent collaborator on films and books with Stephen K. Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and the former White House chief strategist. Schweizer provided some of his information from his book, “Clinton Cash,” to The New York Times, which conducted its own reporting.
Why does Trump care about the Uranium One deal?
Trump is frustrated with the continuing investigations into Russia’s election meddling and possible ties to his campaign. Last month the special coun- sel announced the first charges against Trump campaign aides.
The president has said the Justice Department should instead be investigating Clinton’s involvement in the Uranium One deal and donations to her family’s charitable foundation.
“Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn’t want to follow!” Trump wrote in a Twitter post on Oct. 19.
His request has triggered a political backlash and breaks with long-standing norms established after Watergate.
Why are we revisiting the deal now, seven years later?
On Monday, the Justice Department told Congress that it was looking into whether to appoint a special counsel to investigate Clinton and the Uranium One deal. Earlier this year, the department appointed a special counsel, the former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, to take over the government’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and the possible involvement of Trump campaign aides.
Some Republicans have also called for investigations into the Uranium One deal, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-iowa, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA. — both chairmen of congressional committees that oversee the Justice Department. The Justice Department’s letter Monday was in response to Goodlatte’s requests.
Goodlatte’s committee and the House oversight committee are already conducting their own investigations into the Uranium One decision.
On Oct. 24, Grassley wrote in a Twitter post, “Whoever in DOJ is capable w authority to appoint a special counsel shld do so to investigate Uranium One ‘whoever’ means if u aren’t recused.”
In October, an article in The Hill reported that the FBI had been looking into evidence around the time of the Uranium One deal that Russians were offering bribes to expand their energy interests in the United States. Mueller was the FBI director at the time.
“I think the uranium sale to Russia and the way it was done — so underhanded, with tremendous amounts of money being passed — I actually think that’s Watergate, modern age,” Trump told reporters on Oct. 25.
Is there anything to this?
There has been no evidence that donations to the Clinton Foundation influenced the Uranium One deal.
Clinton’s campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, has said suggestions they did were “baseless.”
In 2015 the FBI, at several of its field offices, opened preliminary investigations into the Clinton Foundation. Agents wanted to pursue a wider investigation and conduct interviews and obtain subpoenas. The FBI eventually consolidated the cases at its headquarters. Former officials said that career public corruption prosecutors in Washington concluded there was not enough evidence to move forward with a case.