The FBI Had Evidence of a Russian Bribery Scheme Involving Uranium as Early as 2009

In 2010, the Obama administration made a deal with Russia, giving Moscow control of some American uranium. Unbeknownst to them, however, they were playing along with a Russian bribery scheme involving kickbacks, extortion and racketeering. The Hill reports:

Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.

They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.

The twist is that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton knew about any of this, because the FBI never told them. Yes, rather than alert politicians that the deals they were making were likely the result of a concerted racketeering scheme, the FBI sat on the information for more than four years.

“The Russians were compromising American contractors in the nuclear industry with kickbacks and extortion threats, all of which raised legitimate national security concerns. And none of that evidence got aired before the Obama administration made those decisions,” a person who worked on the case told The Hill.

The Hill also notes that the Department of Justice, representatives for Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder (who was on the same committee as Clinton that helped cement the deal) and numerous FBI officials all declined to comment on the story.

The trial for these crimes occurred in 2014 and 2015, but even then word didn’t get around. Some FBI agents merely stated they didn’t know whether the congressional committee had ever been alerted to the Russian operatives’ wrongdoing. Even the assistant FBI director of criminal cases, Ronald Hosko, said he had no idea the case was even being conducted. No wonder Congress wasn’t told about it.

But that’s not all. The Hill also mentions that the investigation was supervised by Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe. Guess what they’re up to now:

Both men now play a key role in the current investigation into possible, but still unproven, collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election cycle. McCabe is under congressional and Justice Department inspector general investigation in connection with money his wife’s Virginia state Senate campaign accepted in 2015 from now-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe at a time when McAuliffe was reportedly under investigation by the FBI.