Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said he “tried to throw the penalty flag early on” in regard to the Clinton Foundation’s relationship with a Russian uranium deal.
The New York Times story published yesterday detailed the history of donations and questions about State Department’s subsequent actions. About $2 million in donations from Uranium One to the Clinton Foundation weren’t disclosed.
Barrasso raised the alarm in 2010 about the uranium deal. “We talked to the administration ahead of time. We wrote to the president right after they approved the sale of American uranium product to a country controlled by Putin and Russia,” he told Fox last night. “We were very concerned from the standpoint of energy security for our country and national security since most of the uranium that he would use in the United States, we have to import that we use for nuclear power and now you see Vladimir Putin owning 20 percent of American uranium, controlling that, and we know that Russia sends uranium to people who are not our friends to our bitter enemies, including Iran.”
Three months after that letter, Barrasso received a reply not from President Obama but from the nuclear regulatory commission.
“And they said they’re going to keep an eye on this. They’re going to make sure if there is any permits to export, that they’ll check in to those things and make sure none of this uranium leaves the United States. Well, in fact, uranium, we do know, has left the United States and gone overseas and under the direction of Vladimir Putin,” Barrasso said.
Hillary Clinton “had pressed that reset butt with Russia just a little earlier that year.”
“So, we had problems with her trying to have a new relationship with Russia,” the senator continued. “But I have never trusted Russia in this area specifically with our energy security and our national security and that’s why I was so focused on this sale, this OK to transfer American reserves of uranium to the Russians where they could then do what they want. And my concern is Iran.”
Barrasso saw no benefit for the U.S. in the deal.
“They were supposed to contact me immediately even if there actually even was a request for a license,” he said of discussions with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. “…I know that uranium has lefts the country.”
“I think there’s an issue of national security, as well as energy security, and I worry about Iran getting this uranium.”
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