WATCH: Shep Smith
'Destroys' The Uranium One Scandal. Except There's More To The Story.
By Ben Shapiro
@benshapiro
On Tuesday evening, the media world went gaga over Fox News’
Shepard Smith “debunking” the so-called Uranium One scandal.
Smith went after President Trump’s characterization of
the situation; Trump stated that Hillary Clinton’s State Department had
approved “transfer of 20% of America’s uranium holdings to Russia. Well, nine investors in
the deal funneled $145 million to the Clinton Foundation.” Smith stated that the
Clinton State Department “had no power to approve or veto that transaction,”
continuing:
The accusation is predicated on the charge that Secretary
Clinton approved the sale. She did not. A committee of nine evaluated the sale,
the president approved the sale, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and others
had to offer permits, and none of the uranium was exported for use by the U.S.
to Russia.
Smith also pointed out that most of the money supposedly
funneled to the Clinton Foundation came from Frank Giustra, who had divested
from the uranium company years before the sale.
So, here’s what’s true
about the Uranium One deal.
Giustra owned a company called UrAsia, which was sold to
Uranium One; Giustra then says he divested his personal stake in the company,
though his shareholders still owned 60% of the company, and there is no way to
confirm the truth of his claim. In 2009 and 2010, Rosatom, Russia’s atomic
energy agency, was poised to buy a majority of the company. Rosatom was
barred by law from exporting American uranium abroad, so Russia couldn’t
exactly mine in Wyoming and build nukes in Moscow.
In 2013, Russia bought the rest of Uranium One with the
approval of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, as well
as the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission and
Utah agencies. The CFIUS includes the State Department. Clinton claimed she had
nothing to do with the greenlighting, and pointed to the fact that multiple
agencies had approved the sale.
So, how much money actually flowed from Uranium One
beneficiaries to the Clinton Foundation? If we don’t include Giustra, the
amount drops from $145 million to $4 million.
But this is a bit too simplistic. The New York Times reported that the
Uranium One acquisition actually began in 2005, while Giustra still owned the
company, “with Mr. Clinton at his side.” According to the Times:
The two men had flown aboard Mr. Giustra’s private jet to
Almaty, Kazakhstan, where they dined with the authoritarian president,
Nursultan A. Nazarbayev. Mr. Clinton handed the Kazakh president a propaganda
coup when he expressed support for Mr. Nazarbayev’s bid to head an
international elections monitoring group, undercutting American foreign policy
and criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, his
wife, then a senator.
Within days of the visit, Mr. Giustra’s fledgling
company, UrAsia Energy Ltd., signed a preliminary deal giving it stakes in
three uranium mines controlled by the state-run uranium agency Kazatomprom.
If the Kazakh deal was a major victory, UrAsia did not
wait long before resuming the hunt. In 2007, it merged with Uranium One, a South African company
with assets in Africa
and Australia,
in what was described as a $3.5 billion transaction. The new company, which
kept the Uranium One name, was controlled by UrAsia investors including Ian Telfer,
a Canadian who became chairman. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Giustra, whose
personal stake in the deal was estimated at about $45 million, said he sold his
stake in 2007.
Soon, Uranium One began to snap up companies with assets
in the United States. In April 2007, it announced the purchase of a uranium
mill in Utah
and more than 38,000 acres of uranium exploration properties in four Western
states, followed quickly by the acquisition of the Energy Metals Corporation
and its uranium holdings in Wyoming, Texas and Utah. That deal made clear that
Uranium One was intent on becoming “a powerhouse in the United States uranium
sector with the potential to become the domestic supplier of choice for U.S.
utilities,” the company declared. … The Times published an article revealing
the 2005 trip’s link to Mr. Giustra’s Kazakhstan mining deal. It also reported
that several months later, Mr. Giustra had donated $31.3 million to Mr. Clinton’s foundation.
Furthermore, questions about Rosatom’s control of uranium
isn’t about the Russians crafting nukes — they already have them. It’s about shortages
of uranium in the United States, and dependence on foreign sources for that
material. It was also about Rosatom purchasing a huge stake of nuclear material
in Kazakhstan.
And the Clintons were still involved. Here’s the Times
again:
Mr. Telfer’s undisclosed donations came in addition to
between $1.3 million and $5.6 million in contributions, which were reported,
from a constellation of people with ties to Uranium One or UrAsia, the company
that originally acquired Uranium One’s most valuable asset: the Kazakh mines.
Without those assets, the Russians would have had no interest in the deal: “It
wasn’t the goal to buy the Wyoming mines. The goal was to acquire the
Kazakh assets, which are very good,” Mr. Novikov, the Rosatom spokesman, said
in an interview.
Amid this influx of Uranium One-connected money, Mr.
Clinton was invited to speak in Moscow in June 2010, the same month Rosatom
struck its deal for a majority stake in Uranium One.
The $500,000 fee — among Mr. Clinton’s highest — was paid
by Renaissance
Capital, a Russian investment bank with ties to the Kremlin that has
invited world leaders, including Tony Blair, the former British prime minister,
to speak at its investor conferences.
So no, it’s not at all unclear that the Clintons were unrelated
to Uranium One. And it’s not unclear that they’d have no interest in pushing
Uranium One — Giustra still had an interest in maintaining faith with his
former shareholders, and the Clintons had intervened in the past to help out
the company beyond Giustra’s involvement. That doesn't mean that Hillary signed
off on the Uranium One sale. But to downplay the sale itself or the Clintons'
interest in it would neglect facts in evidence.
Let’s connect the dots:
Clinton Foundation
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and the Human
Rights First.
Note: Patrick H.
Gaspard is a VP for the Open Society
Foundations, and was a U.S. ambassador for South Africa.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a co-chair, national finance council for
the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary), a
board member for the International
Crisis Group, a friend of Michael
Douglas, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society,
and William D. Zabel was his divorce
lawyer.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Sundance Institute, the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), Media Matters
for America, the Human Rights First,
and the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Ready
PAC (Ready For Hillary)
supported the 2016 Hillary Rodham
Clinton presidential campaign.
Leslie H. Gelb was
a board member for the International
Crisis Group, and a reporter, columnist & op-ed page editor for the New York Times.
Thomas R.
Pickering is a co-chair for the International
Crisis Group, was the chairman of review board that investigated the 2012 attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
Libya in 2013, and a U.S. ambassador for Russia.
Yegor Gaidar was
a board member for the International
Crisis Group, and a prime minister for Russia.
Igor S. Ivanov
was a board member for the International
Crisis Group, a minister of foreign affairs for Russia, and is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Michael Douglas
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Ted
Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank), the founder of the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the founder of CNN, and an honorary board member for
the Green Cross International (USA).
Green Cross International- Sourcewatch
Ted Turner (USA) is an honorary board member for the Green Cross International (USA).
Pat
Mitchell (USA) is
an honorary board member for the Green
Cross International (USA).
Robert Redford (USA) is an honorary board member for
the Green Cross International (USA).
Vivian Schiller
was a Russian interpreter for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc, and an
SVP for the CNN Productions.
Patricia E.
Mitchell was an executive in charge of original productions for the Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the president
of CNN Productions, a board member
for the Global Green USA, is an
honorary board member for the Green
Cross International (USA), and
is the vice chair for the Sundance
Institute.
Global Green USA
is a US affiliate of Green Cross
International.
Mikhail Gorbachev
is the founder of Green Cross
International, and was the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Russia
was a republic of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR).
Robert Redford
is the founder & president of the Sundance
Institute, and an honorary board member for the Green Cross International (USA).
Ted
Turner is an honorary board member for the Green Cross International (USA),
the founder of the Turner Broadcasting
System Inc., the founder of CNN,
and a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank).
Michael Douglas
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Igor S. Ivanov
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), was a minister of foreign affairs for Russia, and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. was a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a Utah state government governor, is a fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a U.S. ambassador for Russia.
James F. Collins
is a senior associate at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and was a U.S. ambassador
for Russia.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was the
president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
a board member for the International Crisis
Group, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United States in war)
Frank Giustra is a
board member for the International
Crisis Group, a director & funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a friend of William J. Clinton, a friend of Ian W. Telfer, and was the founder of UrAsia Energy Ltd.
Uranium One
acquired UrAsia Energy Ltd.
Paul D. Reynolds
was an adviser on UrAsia-Uranium One
merger for Uranium One, and a funder
for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea
Clinton Foundation.
Ian W. Telfer was
the chairman for Uranium One, a
funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, is a friend of Frank Giustra, and the chairman & CEO for the North American Metals Corp.
Renaissance
Capital promoted stock for Uranium
One.
William J. Clinton
was paid $500,000 for speech from the Renaissance
Capital, and is the founder of the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Credit Suisse
Group was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and Credit Suisse First Boston was its former name.
Richard A. Deitz
was a unit managing director for
the Credit Suisse First Boston, and
a founding partner at Renaissance
Capital.
William J. Clinton
was paid $500,000 for speech from the Renaissance
Capital, and is the founder of the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Renaissance
Capital promoted stock for Uranium
One.
Rosatom
acquired Uranium One, and is a Russia’s state-owned company.
Russia
was a republic of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR).
Mikhail Gorbachev
was the president of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), and is the founder of Green Cross International.
Ted
Turner is an honorary board member for the Green Cross International (USA),
the founder of the Turner Broadcasting
System Inc., the founder of CNN,
and a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank).
Michael Douglas
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Igor S. Ivanov
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), was a minister of foreign affairs for Russia, and a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Yegor Gaidar was
a board member for the International
Crisis Group, and a prime minister for Russia.
Thomas R.
Pickering is a co-chair for the International
Crisis Group, was the chairman of review board that investigated the 2012 attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
Libya in 2013, and a U.S. ambassador for Russia.
J.
Christopher Stevens was killed in the 2012
attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and was the U.S. ambassador
for Libya.
Michael G. Mullen
was a vice chairman of review board that investigated the 2012 attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2013, is a
director at the Bloomberg Family
Foundation, and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, and the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety,
Gun Control” group for guns.
John
J. Mack is a director at the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, was a co-CEO for the Credit Suisse Group, and the president & CEO for Credit Suisse First Boston.
Credit Suisse
Group was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and Credit Suisse First Boston was its former name.
Richard A. Deitz
was a unit managing director for the Credit
Suisse First Boston, and a founding partner at Renaissance Capital.
William J. Clinton
was paid $500,000 for speech from the Renaissance
Capital, and is the founder of the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Renaissance
Capital promoted stock for Uranium
One.
Rosatom
acquired Uranium One, and is a Russia’s state-owned company.
Susie Tompkins
Buell was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a fundraiser for the 2016 Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential
campaign, is a national finance council member for the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary), Hillary
Rodham Clinton’s friend, and a director at the Media Matters for America.
David Brock is an adviser
for the Ready PAC (Ready For Hillary),
and the founder of the Media Matters for
America.
Ready
PAC (Ready For Hillary)
supported the 2016 Hillary Rodham
Clinton presidential campaign.
Zac Petkanas was
a director of rapid response for the 2016
Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, and a communications director
for the Media Matters for America.
Sidney
Blumenthal was a consultant for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, is Hillary Rodham Clinton’s friend & confidant, and a consultant
for Media Matters for America.
Media
Matters for America monitors Fox
News.
Gail
Furman was a donor for Media Matters
for America, is a director at the Human
Rights First, and Jason L. Furman’s
mother.
Richard R. Verma
was a director at the Human Rights First,
and a director at the Bill, Hillary
& Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
William D. Zabel
is the chair for the Human Rights First,
was a trustee at the Foundation to
Promote Open Society, and George
Soros’s divorce lawyer.
Jason L. Furman is Gail Furman’s son, and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a
member of the Iraq Study Group, and
a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Alan K. Simpson
was member of the Iraq Study Group, and
Milward Lee Simpson’s son.
Milward Lee
Simpson was Alan K. Simpson’s
father, and was the Wyoming state
government governor.
Lee H. Hamilton
was a co-chair for the Iraq Study Group,
is a board member emeritus for Global
Green USA, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank).
Global Green USA
is a US affiliate of Green Cross
International.
Mikhail Gorbachev
is the founder of Green Cross
International, and was the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Russia
was a republic of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR).
Shirley Ann
Jackson is a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was the chairman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Julia Gillard is
a distinguished fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was the prime minister of Australia.
Thomas R.
Pickering is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a co-chair for the International Crisis Group, was the chairman
of review board that investigated the 2012
attack on U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2013, and a U.S. ambassador
for Russia.
Yegor Gaidar was
a board member for the International
Crisis Group, and a prime minister for Russia.
Igor S. Ivanov
was a board member for the International
Crisis Group, a minister of foreign affairs for Russia, and is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Gareth Evans was
the president of the International
Crisis Group, a co-chair for the International
Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, and the resources
& energy minister for Australia.
Michael Douglas
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. is a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and was the president of
the Middle East Policy Council (think
tank).
Richard H. Jones
is a director at the Middle East Policy
Council (think tank), and was a U.S. ambassador for Kazakhstan.
Edward Gnehm was a
director at the Middle East Policy
Council (think tank), and a U.S. ambassador for Australia.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a board member for the International
Crisis Group, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United States in war)
Frank Giustra is a
board member for the International
Crisis Group, a director & funder for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a friend of William J. Clinton, a friend of Ian W. Telfer, and was the founder of UrAsia Energy Ltd.
Uranium One
acquired UrAsia Energy Ltd.
Paul D. Reynolds
was an adviser on UrAsia-Uranium One
merger for Uranium One, and a funder
for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea
Clinton Foundation.
Ian W. Telfer was
the chairman for Uranium One, a
funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation, is a friend of Frank Giustra, and the chairman & CEO for the North American Metals Corp.
Renaissance
Capital promoted stock for Uranium
One.
William J. Clinton
was paid $500,000 for speech from the Renaissance
Capital, and is the founder of the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Credit Suisse
Group was a funder for the Bill,
Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and Credit Suisse First Boston was its former name.
Richard A. Deitz
was a unit managing director for the Credit
Suisse First Boston, an advisory board member for the Yale School of Management, and a founding partner at Renaissance Capital.
Wendi
Deng was an advisory board member for the Yale School of Management, and is a friend of Tony Blair.
Tony
Blair is a friend of Wendi Deng,
a friend of Lynn Forester de Rothschild,
and was the United Kingdom prime
minister.
Lynn
Forester de Rothschild is a friend of Tony
Blair & Hillary Rodham Clinton,
was a participant in the Bill Clinton
trip to Africa, 2015, and a
funder for the Bill, Hillary &
Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
William J. Clinton
was the leader for the Bill Clinton trip
to Africa, 2015, paid $500,000
for speech from the Renaissance Capital,
and is the founder of the Bill, Hillary
& Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
Renaissance
Capital promoted stock for Uranium
One.
Rosatom
acquired Uranium One, and is a Russia’s state-owned company.
Russia
was a republic of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR).
Mikhail Gorbachev
was the president of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), and is the founder of Green Cross International.
Ted
Turner is an honorary board member for the Green Cross International (USA),
the founder of the Turner Broadcasting
System Inc., the founder of CNN,
and a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank).
Michael Douglas
is a director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), and a friend of George Soros.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Chas. W. Freeman
Jr. is a trustee at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and was the president of
the Middle East Policy Council (think
tank).
Richard H. Jones
is a director at the Middle East Policy
Council (think tank), and was a U.S. ambassador for Kazakhstan.
Edward Gnehm was a
director at the Middle East Policy
Council (think tank), and a U.S. ambassador for Australia.
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