"Hopelessly Compromised": Judiciary Member Calls For Mueller's Resignation Over Uranium One Scandal

by Tyler Durden

Nov 4, 2017 5:40 AM

Earlier this morning House Judiciary Committee representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) submitted a resolution calling for Robert Mueller to resign as special counsel overseeing the FBI investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government saying, among other things, that the former FBI director is "hopelessly compromised" as a result of his failed oversight of the controversial Uranium One transaction.  Here is an excerpt from a press release posted to Gaetz's website earlier today:

“Evidence has emerged that the FBI withheld information from Congress and from the American people about Russian corruption of American uranium companies. A confidential U.S. witness, working in the Russian nuclear industry, revealed that Russia had deeply compromised an American uranium trucking firm through bribery and financial kickbacks.

Although federal agents possessed this information in 2010, the Department of Justice continued investigating this “matter” for over four years. The FBI, led at the time by Robert Mueller, required the confidential witness to sign a non-disclosure agreement. When the witness attempted to contact Congress and federal courts about the bribery and corruption he saw, he was threatened with legal action. By silencing him, Obama’s Justice Department and Mueller’s FBI knowingly kept Congress in the dark about Russia’s significant and illegal involvement with American uranium companies.

These deeply troubling events took place when Mr. Mueller was the Director of the FBI. As such, his impartiality is hopelessly compromised. He must step down immediately,” Rep. Gaetz said in a statement.

Gaetz’s resolution currently has two cosponsors, both of whom are members of the House Freedom Caucus: Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX).



Of course, pressure has been growing on Mueller for the past couple of weeks and reached a fevered pitch when the The Hill recently reported the sordid tale of "Confidential Source 1," a man that the FBI used as an informant back in 2009 and who says he was silenced by the FBI and Obama administration when he attempted to come forward with information that linked the Clinton Foundation directly to the Uranium One scandal.

Toensing added her client has had contact from multiple congressional committees seeking information about what he witnessed inside the Russian nuclear industry and has been unable to provide that information because of the NDA.

“He can’t disclose anything that he came upon in the course of his work,” she said.

The information the client possesses includes specific allegations that Russian executives made to him about how they facilitated the Obama administration's 2010 approval of the Uranium One deal and sent millions of dollars in Russian nuclear funds to the U.S. to an entity assisting Bill Clinton's foundation. At the time, Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of State on the government panel that approved the deal, the lawyer said.

It has been previously reported that Bill Clinton accepted $500,000 in Russian speaking fees in 2010 and collected millions more in donations for his foundation from parties with a stake in the Uranium One deal, transactions that both the Clintons and the Obama administration denied had any influence on the approval.

“All of the information about this corruption has not come out,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “And so my client, the same part of my client that made him go into the FBI in the first place, says, 'This is wrong. What should I do about it?'”

When he tried to bring some of the allegations to light in the lawsuit last year, “the Obama Justice Department threatened him with loss of freedom. They said they would bring a criminal case against him for violating an NDA,” she added.

“The government was taking a very harsh position that threatened both your reputation and liberty,” the civil lawyer wrote in one email. In another, she added, “As you will recall the gov’t made serious threats sufficient to cause you to withdraw your civil complaint."

As we pointed out last week, "Confidential Source 1" has since been cleared by the DOJ to meet with Congress to tell his tale.

Meanwhile, the scandal took another turn for the worse earlier this week when, despite numerous assurances to the contrary from the Obama administration, new memos obtained by The Hill confirmed that, in fact, Uranium One yellowcake was exported from U.S. shores repeatedly between 2012 - 2014.

Yet NRC memos reviewed by The Hill shows that it did approve the shipment of yellowcake uranium — the raw material used to make nuclear fuel and weapons — from the Russian-owned mines in the United States to Canada in 2012 through a third party. Later, the Obama administration approved some of that uranium going all the way to Europe, government documents show.

NRC officials said they could not disclose the total amount of uranium that Uranium One exported because the information is proprietary. They did, however, say that the shipments only lasted from 2012 to 2014 and that they are unaware of any exports since then.

NRC officials told The Hill that Uranium One exports flowed from Wyoming to Canada and on to Europe between 2012 through 2014, and the approval involved a process with multiple agencies.
Of course, we're certain that Mueller will promptly admit his conflicts and do the right thing...right?
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Below is the full text of the Gaetz' resolution:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Robert Mueller should resign from his special counsel position.

Whereas from 2001–2013, Robert Mueller served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 

Whereas as early as 2009, the FBI discovered that Russian officials were engaging in bribery and extortion, tainting the American uranium industry in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to strengthen their own nuclear program;

Whereas investigations into Russia’s corruption of American uranium-related businesses were supervised by then-United States Attorney Rod Rosenstein, currently serving as Deputy Attorney General, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, currently serving as Deputy Director of the FBI;

Whereas despite knowledge of this corruption, backed by documents and an eyewitness account, neither the Department of Justice nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the leadership of Mr. Mueller brought charges;

Whereas the Department of Justice actively threatened the liberty of a confidential informant embedded within Russia’s nuclear program who wished to inform Congress about Russian corruption of American uranium-related companies, and the FBI required this informant to sign a non-disclosure agreement, intentionally depriving Congress of information vital to national security and Congressional oversight authority;

Whereas Members of Congress have raised objections to, and concerns with, the sale of American uranium assets to Russian companies, and raised these concerns in official correspondence to then-President Obama as early as 2010;

Whereas in 2010, when the Russian Federation needed American approval of uranium sales, former President William Jefferson Clinton received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from Kremlin-linked institutions, and requested approval from the State Department to meet with central figures in Russia’s nuclear industry, and eventually met with Russian leader Vladimir V. Putin at Mr. Putin’s private residence;

Whereas the Clinton Foundation has either directly or indirectly received undisclosed donations totaling millions of dollars from Russian-linked sources, including from officials in Russia’s nuclear program;

Whereas in 2010, Hillary Clinton, founder of the Clinton Foundation, wife of former President Clinton, and then Secretary of State, approved the sale of Uranium One to a Russian state-owned nuclear technology corporation;

Whereas any thorough and honest investigation into the corruption of American-uranium related business must include investigating the willful blindness of the FBI and its leaders;

Whereas under 28 CFR 45.2, no individual can participate in a criminal investigation if he has a personal or political relationship with any organization substantially involved in the conduct that is subject of the investigation;

Whereas under 28 CFR 45.2, no individual may participate in a criminal investigation if the individual’s participation would create an appearance of conflict of interest likely to affect public perception of the integrity of the investigation;

Whereas the Code of Federal Regulations, applied to Mr. Mueller, demonstrates that he cannot be allowed to investigate his former colleagues, supervisors, and subordinates;

and

Whereas these obvious conflicts of interest are unacceptable to the United States justice system and the American people:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved,

That House of Representatives expresses its sense that Robert Mueller is compromised and should resign from his special counsel position immediately.