
FBI Uncovered Russian Bribery Plot Before Uranium Deal - tomohawk
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/355749-fbi-uncovered-russian-bribery-plot-before-obama-administration
======
retox
Corrupt Hillary Clinton;

>They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating
Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed
to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the
time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that
provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.

~~~
tw04
I have no love lost for Hillary... but let's be real.

>When this sale was used by Trump on the campaign trail last year, Hillary
Clinton’s spokesman said she was not involved in the committee review and
noted the State Department official who handled it said she “never intervened
... on any [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] matter.”

So she stated she recused herself from the vote, and there's yet to be any
evidence or accusations to the contrary.

Furthermore it says repeatedly in the article that the FBI didn't inform
anyone outside of the Bureau about the investigation until well after the deal
had closed.

>“Not providing information on a corruption scheme before the Russian uranium
deal was approved by U.S. regulators and engage appropriate congressional
committees has served to undermine U.S. national security interests by the
very people charged with protecting them,” he said. “The Russian efforts to
manipulate our American political enterprise is breathtaking.”

But I mean... stick with the unfounded accusations, it generally makes one
look educated to make baseless claims.

~~~
jakeogh
Why did the Secretary of State recuse herself?

~~~
wahern
It doesn't appear that she recused herself. Rather, it appears that while
cabinet members are officially on the committee by operation of law, they rely
on staff to do the review work and make the majority of decisions. IOW,
Hillary was a member of the committee in name only.

From [http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-
the...](http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/22/the-lights-are-on-at-the-
committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-but-nobody-is-home/)

    
    
      > The problem, according James Lewis, an expert on military
      > technology at the Center for Security and International
      > Studies, is that the positions needed to move cases along
      > have yet to be appointed. "There is no one between the
      > committee and the secretary," Lewis said.
    

If you parse that (and the surrounding context) it's obvious that cabinet
members don't actually do the review work themselves. Rather, the law also
appoints undersecretaries and other underlings to sit on the committee.
Cabinet members probably only get looped-in on rare occasion, when staff
members believe an issue should be brought to the attention of a cabinet
member. In the Trump administration, because there are no underlings to do the
work, the committee is effectively defunct.

~~~
wahern
Also, The Hill article is clearly trolling when it says,

    
    
      > Bill Clinton collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in
      > Russian speaking fees and his charitable foundation
      > collected millions in donations from parties interested in
      > the deal while Hillary Clinton presided on the Committee
      > on Foreign Investment in the United States.
    

The Secretary of State doesn't "preside" over the committee. The Secretary of
the Treasury is the official chairman. See [https://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/international/forei...](https://www.treasury.gov/resource-
center/international/foreign-investment/Pages/cfius-members.aspx)

~~~
jakeogh
"she stated she recused herself from the vote"

Is this part of your first comment incorrect?

~~~
wahern
Not my comment.

~~~
jakeogh
Sorry about that.

Do you think that the Secretary of State should be responsible for the actions
of the people that report to her?

Does a donation (before or after) from the involved parties to her husband up
the responsibility bar at all?

