Many who think of the Uranium One deal believe it to be a deal in which Hillary Clinton was involved in the approval of a foreign purchase of 20% of the U.S. uranium production which coincided closely with Bill Clinton receiving a large speaking fee from those making the purchase. While that is true and there as never been any evidence put forward of any wrong doing, the story has more history.
In June of 2005, Bill Clinton met a Canadian named Frank Giustra during a fund raiser held at Giusta's Vancouver home. Frank Giustra owned UrAsia, a small – and newly formed – uranium company that was seeking to purchase lucrative uranium reserves in Kazakhstan. Giusta and Clinton apparently hit it off very well. While Giusta was in Kazakhstan negotiating his deal for the uranium reserves, Clinton flew to Kazakhstan and the two of them arranged a private dinner meeting with Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev on September 6, 2005. Subsequently, Guistra was able to close the deal on November 7, 2005. Coincidentally, in 2006, Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation.
On February 12, 2007 UrAsia and Uranium One announce an agreement for Uranium One to purchase UrAsia for an estimated $3 billion dollars. In June of 2007, after the close of the sale, Giustra pledged an additional $100 million dollars to the Clinton Foundation. Another coincidence benefiting the Clinton Foundation.
In 2009, ARMZ, an part of Rosatom which is the state owned Russian nuclear energy agency, purchased it's first 17% stake in Uranium One. On June 8, 2010, Uranium One announced it had signed an agreement to sell a majority stake to the mining arm of Rosatom. This sale had to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). In October of 2010 CFIUS unanimously approved the sale giving Russia control of 20% of the U.S. uranium production. Note at the time the sale represented 20% of production capacity but that has decreased with the addition of new capacity coming online. A final transaction in 2013 made Uranium One a privately held portion of Rosatom.
As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Uranium One's Canadian chairman, Ian Telfer, used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation. On June 29, 2010, Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a speech by Renaissance Capital, a Russian based finance company with ties to the Kremlin and the Uranium One deal. More coincidences benefiting the Clinton's. Forget the luck of the Irish, how about the luck of the Clinton's.
CFIUS is a cross departmental committee made up of department heads of nine different departments of government. Two in particular that stand out include the State Department, with Hillary Clinton at the lead, and the Justice Department, then led by Eric Holder. Clinton had assigned her representation on the committee to a subordinate and was not directly involved in the approval, but personally I have never received an assignment from a superior without an indication of the desired outcome. The reason Eric Holder is mentioned specifically will become evident but it has to do with the fact that the Director of the FBI reports to the Department of Justice.
Keep in mind the political atmosphere during this time period. The Obama administration held the view the Russians had been misunderstood and mischaracterized by Republicans. What was needed was a reset of relations with Russia so they could be our best friends. Remember Hillary's speech with the large reset button?
Although there is no evidence any member of CFIUS was ever alerted to any problems, they were there. While the various transactions of the Rosatom purchase of Uranium One were going through, the FBI and Justice Department had Rosatom under investigation. The investigation was led by then Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe and then U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. The Director of the FBI at the time was Robert Mueller.
By November 7, 2009 the FBI investigation had progressed to the point that working through an American businessman as an informant records of a kickback payment issued at the direction of Rosatom's Tenex subsidiary director Vadim Mikerin were obtained. The investigation into Mekerin's activities was a "racketeering" investigation which included extortion, bribery, money laundering, and kickbacks. Mikerin was working to provide no-bid contracts to American businesses in exchange for kickbacks. Pricing on the deals was established to include money for the kickbacks that would be paid to off-shore accounts. This only worked to drive up our electric bills as the uranium used in power generation plants became more expensive.
In addition, according to FBI informant Douglas Campbell who gave a 10-page statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Moscow hired APCO Worldwide to influence the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton. According to the informant, the APCO contract called for APCO to make four payments of $750,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative over a 12 month period. APCO was also required to provide assistance to the Clinton Global Initiative free of charge. These efforts resulted in Russian confidence that with Clinton's help CFIUS would approve the deal.
Through all the efforts of the FBI obtaining information that could have stopped the sale of Uranium One, there is no evidence that any member of CFIUS approving the sale ever being notified of the FBI investigation. One has to wonder where the information from the FBI field officers stopped. Maybe Andrew McCabe and Rod Rosenstein stopped the information, or it went to FBI Director Robert Mueller before it was stopped. It's even possible Mueller transmitted the information to his boss, Eric Holder, verbally. Holder could have then verbally communicated with other members of Obama's staff, including Hillary Clinton to squash the information.
The Russian investigation was quietly closed by the FBI in August of 2015 with a plea deal made by Mikerin to a single count of money laundering. The FBI had proof of a significant list of other charges but the plea deal came down to this single charge. Maybe this was part of cleaning up the mess by then FBI Director James Comey.
Sources:
FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow
Obama-era Russian Uranium One deal: What to know
Prosecutors ask FBI agents for info on Uranium One deal
Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal
A Uranium One Primer – Clinton, Giustra & Kazakhstan’s Uranium Assets
Uranium One and UrAsia Energy Announce Combination to Create Emerging Senior Uranium Company
Clinton Commits No Foul In Kazakhstan Uranium Deal
Mikerin Plea Deal