The cabal that hid Uranium One scandal is now going after Trump
The sale of a substantial portion of US uranium reserves to a Russian company controlled by Vladimir Putin – who openly desires to control the world uranium market – never could have been approved by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-AG Eric Holder, if the dimensions of the scandal being investigated by the FBI and Justice Department had been known. That the scandal was hidden from the public is itself scandalous.
Last Friday, an 11-count indictment was unsealed, naming:
…a former DoD intelligence analyst-turned uranium transportation executive who stands accused of a bribery and money laundering scheme involving a Russian nuclear official connected to the Uranium One deal.
The indictment corroborates a November report by The Hill that an FBI mole deeply embedded in the Russian uranium industry had gathered extensive evidence of the scheme.
Mark Lambert, 54, of Mount Airy, Maryland, was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to commit wire fraud, seven counts of violating the FCPA, two counts of wire fraud and one count of international promotion money laundering.
The details of the case against Lambert are much less important than the cast of characters that kept the scandal under wraps while our uranium reserves were sold to Russia. Zero Hedge explains in a long and complicated post. The gist:
Robert Mueller's FBI had been investigating the scheme since at least 2008 - with retiring Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe assigned to the ongoing investigation which was hidden from the Committee on Foreign Investments in the Untid States (CFIUS). Had they known, the committee never would have approved the Uranium One deal with TENEX's parent company, Rosatom.
Four individuals were eventually prosecuted and given plea agreements after the Uranium One deal was approved. The prosecuting DOJ attorneys? Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and top Mueller investigator in the Trump-Russia probe, Andrew Weissman - who praised former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for defying Trump.
Unsurprisingly, all four indicted individuals were handed extremely light sentences, none of which made headlines.
The judge? Theodore Chuang - an Obama appointee who went to Harvard Law at the same time as Obama, advised Hillary Clinton as "Counselor on detail to the United States Department of State," and just so happened to strike down Trump's "Travel Ban" Executive Order. Chuang's wife, Jacinta Ma served as a senior policy advisor to Michelle Obama.
It is striking how the same cast of characters who minimized the scandal are now going after President Trump.
Update:
Imperator Rex (hat tip: Clarice Feldman) lays out clearly, step by step, what the players in the cabal did at each stage of the unfolding operation that kept the scandal under wraps and went after Trump. It is worth the time if you want to grasp who the players are and what they did.
.