The House Intelligence Committee announced at a press conference Tuesday morning that it will formally investigate an alleged racketeering scheme, dating to 2009, perpetrated by Russian commercial nuclear executives interested in buying American uranium reserves.
Intel Committee Chairman, Representative Devin Nunes (R-California), said Tuesday the investigation will focus, in part, on interviewing an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who allegedly provided the Department of Justice (DOJ) with details of a bribery scheme beginning in 2009.
The next year, Obama administration officials approved a deal allowing Rosatom—a mammoth, state-owned Russian power company—to purchase Uranium One, a Canadian mining company that controls 20 percent of American uranium reserves. While then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s department was reviewing the decision, former President Bill Clinton reportedly received a $500,000 speaking fee and millions of dollars in donations from executives with a stake in the deal, The Hill reports.
“We’re not going to jump to any conclusions at this time,” Nunes told reporters. “But one of the things that you know that we’re concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation. Was there a DOJ investigation? And if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter? So that will be the start of the probe.”
