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   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   
   States. In the days since Mrs. Clinton announced her candidacy   
   for president, the Clinton Foundation has announced changes   
   meant to quell longstanding concerns about potential conflicts   
   of interest in such donations; it has limited donations from   
   foreign governments, with many, like Russia’s, barred from   
   giving to all but its health care initiatives. That policy stops   
   short of a more stringent agreement between Mrs. Clinton and the   
   Obama administration that was in effect while she was secretary   
   of state.   
      
   Either way, the Uranium One deal highlights the limits of such   
   prohibitions. The foundation will continue to accept   
   contributions from foreign sources whose interests, like Uranium   
   One’s, may overlap with those of foreign governments, some of   
   which may be at odds with the United States.   
      
   When the Uranium One deal was approved, the geopolitical   
   backdrop was far different from today’s. The Obama   
   administration was seeking to “reset” strained relations with   
   Russia. The deal was strategically important to Mr. Putin, who   
   shortly after the Americans gave their blessing sat down for a   
   staged interview with Rosatom’s chief executive, Sergei   
   Kiriyenko. “Few could have imagined in the past that we would   
   own 20 percent of U.S. reserves,” Mr. Kiriyenko told Mr. Putin.   
      
   https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/23/us/clinton-foundation-   
   donations-uranium-investors-1429749669022/clinton-foundation-   
   donations-uranium-investors-1429749669022-master495-v3.png   
      
   Now, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in   
   Ukraine, the Moscow-Washington relationship is devolving toward   
   Cold War levels, a point several experts made in evaluating a   
   deal so beneficial to Mr. Putin, a man known to use energy   
   resources to project power around the world.   
      
   “Should we be concerned? Absolutely,” said Michael McFaul, who   
   served under Mrs. Clinton as the American ambassador to Russia   
   but said he had been unaware of the Uranium One deal until asked   
   about it. “Do we want Putin to have a monopoly on this? Of   
   course we don’t. We don’t want to be dependent on Putin for   
   anything in this climate.”   
      
   A Seat at the Table   
      
   The path to a Russian acquisition of American uranium deposits   
   began in 2005 in Kazakhstan, where the Canadian mining financier   
   Frank Giustra orchestrated his first big uranium deal, with Mr.   
   Clinton at his side.   
      
   The two men had flown aboard Mr. Giustra’s private jet to   
      
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