XPost: alt.politics.usa.congress, alt.politics.trump, alt.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc   
      
   Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal   
      
   The headline on the website Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir   
   V. Putin’s latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an   
   era when its precursor served as the official mouthpiece of the   
   Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.”   
      
   The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic   
   energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with   
   uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the   
   American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world’s largest   
   uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of   
   controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.   
      
   But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not   
   just the Russian president, but also a former American president   
   and a woman who would like to be the next one.   
      
   At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the   
   Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the   
   charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his   
   family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually   
   sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as   
   Uranium One.   
      
   Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in   
   the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of   
   all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since   
   uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for   
   national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee   
   composed of representatives from a number of United States   
   government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed   
   off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife,   
   Hillary Rodham Clinton.   
      
   As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in   
   three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records   
   show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation.   
   Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four   
   donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not   
   publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs.   
   Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly   
   identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made   
   donations as well.   
      
   And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to   
   acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received   
   $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with   
   links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.   
      
   At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made   
   promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the   
   company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been   
   repeatedly broken, records show.   
      
   The New York Times’s examination of the Uranium One deal is   
   based on dozens of interviews, as well as a review of public   
   records and securities filings in Canada, Russia and the United   
   States. Some of the connections between Uranium One and the   
   Clinton Foundation were unearthed by Peter Schweizer, a former   
   fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and author of the   
   forthcoming book “Clinton Cash.” Mr. Schweizer provided a   
   preview of material in the book to The Times, which scrutinized   
   his information and built upon it with its own reporting.   
      
   Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the   
   uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special   
   ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed   
   by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to   
   accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer   
   American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over   
   decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation’s donors.   
      
   In a statement, Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s   
   presidential campaign, said no one “has ever produced a shred of   
   evidence supporting the theory that Hillary Clinton ever took   
   action as secretary of state to support the interests of donors   
   to the Clinton Foundation.” He emphasized that multiple United   
   States agencies, as well as the Canadian government, had signed   
   off on the deal and that, in general, such matters were handled   
   at a level below the secretary. “To suggest the State   
   Department, under then-Secretary Clinton, exerted undue   
   influence in the U.S. government’s review of the sale of Uranium   
   One is utterly baseless,” he added.   
      
   American political campaigns are barred from accepting foreign   
   donations. But foreigners may give to foundations in the United   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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