Look! Another Squirrel

The trained hamsters have found a new squirrel—something about Donald Trump's interaction with Gold Star families. As always, there are allegations and counter-claims, but the bottom line is a game of gotcha. The hamsters want to make Trump look as venal as they possibly can; the Democrats want to characterize him as a monster who doesn't care about the military men and women who die in Combat with Islamic extremists; the deep state will offer mendacious leaks to back up those positions, and the GOP elites will cluck their tongues and pontificate about presidential tone and stature.

Meanwhile, in the a world were things do matter, a major scandal is breaking in slow motion. Alice Greene provides a worthwhile summary:

The controversial deal gave Russian company Rosatom control of Canadian mining company Uranium One, which controls 20% of America’s uranium deposits.

The deal required approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a 13-member group responsible for reviewing certain transactions that pose national security risks to the US.

The deal was unanimously approved by CFIUS, whose membership at the time included then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-Attorney General Eric Holder.

Fifteen months before CFIUS approved sale, the FBI began to investigate Rosatom officials suspected of bribery and racketeering. By 2010, the FBI had gathered enough evidence to prove that Rosatom officials were involved in a global bribery scheme. This information was not revealed until 2014.

In the meantime, the Uranium One deal went through and former President Bill Clinton collected millions in speech fees and charitable donations from Russia and other parties interested in the outcome of the deal.

The four constituencies would prefer to ignore these facts (possibly because they have actively participated in their development) so chasing gold star squirrels is a good distraction.

In yesterday's post, I wrote about this. It represents a level of corruption and government acquiescence that actually does threaten our democratic processes. It also—potentially—involves special counsel, Robert Meuller, who is now investigating the vacuous claims of Trump-Russian "collusion."

Roger Simon comments on all of this:

The collusion Trump & Co have been accused of is chickenfeed compared to twenty percent of U.S. uranium ending up in Putin's hands under the aegis of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, the latter two members of CFIUS (the inter-agency committee that reviews the transfer of U.S. companies to foreign entities and was then chaired by Timothy Geithner). We have heard disturbing allegations of this for some time, via "Clinton Cash" and even from the New York Times, but the new disclosure that a 2009 FBI investigation of this possible nuclear deal uncovered kickbacks, money laundering, and bribes from the Russian company involved (Rosatom) and yet it still was given the go-ahead by the Obama administration is -- I can think of no better word -- appalling. How could it have come to pass that this occurred? Why are we supposed to believe anyone now?

On Wednesday, Senator Grassley asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “What are you doing to find out how the Russian takeover of the American uranium was allowed to occur despite criminal conduct by the Russia company that the Obama administration approved the purchase?"

Evidently, not much. At least so far. In fact Sessions said that Deputy Attorney General Ron Rosenstein, who led this long-hidden investigation, should "investigate himself."

No, Jeff. You may have properly recused yourself from the Russian investigation, despite Trump's criticism, but this one is your job ...

The media's latest squirrel is a purposeful faint, timed and intended, I believe, to redirect attention away from a major developing scandal. In fact, the conservative Media Research Center reports that "the network evening shows have only spent only 3 minutes and 1 second on the Clinton Foundation scandal in more than two years." That is as astounding as it is concerning.

This has been the modus operandi of the trained hamsters for the past decade and it has worked well for their masters in the Democratic party. We'll see if they succeed with it this time.

Footnote:
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* The irony is that Clinton has recently been claiming that the Russians are a major threat and were in part responsible for her upset defeat to Donald Trump. If that's the case, why on earth did Clinton approve the sale of uranium to a company that was under federal investigation? More important, why did she accept 10s of millions in Russian donations to The Clinton Foundation immediately before and then after that approval occurred?

UPDATE:
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Gregg Jarrett of FoxNews provides us with an indication of the players involved in this growing scandal:

Eric Holder was the Attorney General when the FBI began uncovering the Russian corruption scheme in 2009. Since the FBI reports to him, he surely knew what the bureau had uncovered.

What’s more, Holder was a member of the “Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States” which approved the uranium sale to the Russians in 2010 [and a close confidante of Barack Obama]. Since the vote was unanimous, it appears Holder knowingly and deliberately countenanced a deal that was based on illegal activities and which gave Moscow control of more than 20 percent of America’s uranium assets.

It gets worse. Robert Mueller was the FBI Director during the time of the Russian uranium probe, and so was his successor James Comey who took over in 2013 as the FBI was still developing the case. Rod Rosenstein, then-U.S. Attorney, was supervising the case. There is no indication that any of these men ever told Congress of all the incriminating evidence they had discovered and the connection to Clinton. The entire matter was kept secret from the American public.

It may be no coincidence that Mueller (now special counsel) and Rosenstein (now Deputy Attorney General) are the two top people currently investigating whether the Trump campaign conspired with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election. Mueller reports to Rosenstein, while Comey is a key witness in the case.

It is not unreasonable to conclude that Mueller, Rosenstein and Comey may have covered up potential crimes involving Clinton and Russia, but are now determined to find some evidence that Trump “colluded” with Russia.

If this is true, Mueller and Rosenstein should immediately recuse themselves from the case. How can Americans have confidence in the outcome of the Trump-Russia matter if the integrity and impartiality of the lead investigators has been compromised by their suspected cover-up of the Clinton-Russia case?

And, if the evidence is as compelling as reported, a second special prosecutor should be appointed to determine whether Hillary Clinton and others should be indicted for crimes of corruption.

I suspect that most people would prefer to look the other way, swayed by the Democrat's mendacious claim that this (and every other scandal uncovered during the past administration) is a "partisan witch hunt."

But here's he thing: Unlike true witch hunts (think the wholly unsubstantiated Russian collusion allegations) that do not a have single shred of actual evidence, the principlals involved are on record approving the Rosatom uranium deal. The Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton were paid in the millions in the same time frame. And clear evidence of wrong-doing was NOT reported by the FBI (under both Mueller and Comey) at the time. That is NOT innuendo, it is a collection of cold, hard facts that indicate massive corruption at the very highest levels of government. If it's business as usual (and it very well might be), we are in far bigger trouble that Russian meddling in our elections.