Clinton Foundation donors sold one of the largest uranium mining companies in America to a Russian nuclear agency in a deal signed off by the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of State, according to The New York Times.
{mosads}The Canadian company Uranium One amassed a slew of uranium mines in Utah, Wyoming, Texas and Utah, which it eventually sold to Rosatom, Russia’s atomic energy agency. While the Russians were engaging in deals to take over Uranium One, Frank Giustra, a friend of former President Bill Clinton and a businessman involved with Uranium One, donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. Other major Uranium One investors donated millions to the foundation along the way as well, according to the Times.
The Times alleges that many of those donations were not disclosed as had been promised when Hillary Clinton took the position within the Obama Cabinet.
Because the deal involved significant amounts of American uranium falling into the hands of a foreign country, it had to be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes the secretary of State and other top Cabinet officials. Despite pushback from a handful of lawmakers, the committee approved the deal, according to the Times.
The revelation stems from the Times’s reporting into allegations made in the controversial book Clinton Cash, by conservative author Peter Schweizer. The Clinton campaign and its surrogates have bashed the book over Schweizer’s ties to conservative news organizations and politicians.
Since Clinton announced her presidency, she’s been dogged by criticism of the Clinton Foundation, and questioned whether its donors could have influenced her conduct as secretary of State.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon shot down any allegations of impropriety in a statement to the Times.
“[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 said.
“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.”
Also on Thursday, Reuters reported that the foundation will refile its tax returns to amend errors in the filings. Reuters found that the foundation inadequately listed donations from foreign governments.