[April 2015] Firm Co-Founded By Hillary’s Campaign Chair Lobbies For Russia’s Uranium One

Daily Caller ^ | April 29, 2015 | by Chuck Ross

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Chalk it up to a small world or to a tangled web, but Uranium One, the Russian-owned uranium mining company at the center of a recent scandal involving the Clintons and a close Canadian business partner, has lobbied the State Department through a firm co-founded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman.

Senate records show that The Podesta Group has lobbied the State Department on behalf of Uranium One — once in 2012, when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, and once in 2015.

Uranium One paid The Podesta Group $40,000 to lobby the State Department, the Senate, the National Park Service and the National Security Council for “international mining projects,” according to a July 20, 2012 filing.

Clinton left the State Department on Feb. 1, 2013.

And according to a disclosure filed April 20, Uranium One spent $20,000 lobbying the Senate and State Department on the same issue.

The Podesta Group was founded in 1988 by brothers Tony and John Podesta. Tony Podesta now heads the group while John Podesta, who has not worked for the family business for years but has been involved in plenty of other projects, leads Hillary Clinton toward a Democratic nomination.

Uranium One is significant because it fell under the corporate control of Rosatom, Russia’s atomic energy agency, through a series of transactions approved by Hillary Clinton’s State Department. Rosatom’s acquisition of Uranium One effectively gave Russia control of 20 percent of uranium in the U.S.

How all of that came to pass has fostered questions about how the Clintons operate their charity, the Clinton Foundation.

The Uranium One story starts in 2005 when Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra and several business partners came to own a small mining company called UrAsia Energy.

Clinton flew with Giustra in September 2005 on a private jet to Kazakhstan. There, the mining tycoon negotiated with that nation’s mining agency, Kazataprom, for rights to three mines. After Clinton appeared publicly in support of Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had just allegedly won an election with more than 90 percent of the vote, the mining deal was approved.

Months later, Giustra donated $31 million to the Clinton Foundation with a pledge of $100 million more.

In 2007, UrAsia Energy, with its access to Kazakhstan’s lucrative mines, merged with South Africa’s Uranium One in a $3.5 billion deal.

Giustra sold his stake in the company soon after, pocketing a tidy profit. But other investors and executives with close ties to Giustra maintained their interests and donated millions more to the Clinton group.

As money was flowing to the Clinton Foundation, the State Department, which came under the control of Hillary Clinton in January 2009, approved a series of transactions that allowed Russia’s Rosatom to buy up shares in Uranium One. By June 2009, Rosatom had a 51 percent stake in the company.

With that majority hold, the Russian energy company effectively gained control of 20 percent of the uranium in the U.S.

Rosatom has since taken complete control of Uranium One. And while there is little risk that the metal being pulled out of U.S. soil poses a direct threat to U.S. national security, it does give Russian President Vladimir Putin control of a major source of energy amid cooling diplomatic relations.

Though Uranium One’s corporate progression has the appearance of pay-for-play, the Clintons and Giustra have denied doing anything wrong. In his capacity as Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta has gone on the offensive, dismissing the notion that the Clintons have done anything illegal or unethical as a conspiracy theory.

But as evidence of just how complex the Clinton Foundation’s activities are, the website Vox.com published an exhaustive list of 181 Clinton Foundation donors who also lobbied the State Department during Hillary Clinton’s tenure there.

Uranium One is not on the list. Neither is Giustra. Nor is Ian Telfer, one of Giustra’s Canadian associates who is the former chairman of Uranium One. He donated $2.35 million through his Fernwood Foundation to the Canadian wing of the Clinton Foundation, which is set up as a partnership with Giustra.

After it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had not disclosed some of its foreign donations — such as Telfer’s — the organization announced it would be refiling some of its tax forms.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Per Wikileaks (Podesta) the Clinton Campaign was concerned about this Daily Caller article in 2015:

From:jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com
To: john.podesta@gmail.com
Date: 2015-04-29 13:47

Subject: Fwd: It's out there

From: Tony Carrk tcarrk@hillaryclinton.com
Date: April 29, 2015 at 11:25:34 AM EDT
To: Jennifer Palmieri jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com, Brian Fallon
bfallon@hillaryclinton.com

Subject: It's out there

http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/29/firm-co-founded-by-hillarys-campaign-chair-lobbies-for-russias-uranium-one/

[Col Frank Slade]

Now it’s really out there !

[LurkedLongEnough]

Schadenfreude city

[MarvinStinson]

As money was flowing to the Clinton Foundation, the State Department, which came under the control of Hillary Clinton in January 2009, approved a series of transactions that allowed Russia’s Rosatom to buy up shares in Uranium One. By June 2009, Rosatom had a 51 percent stake in the company.

With that majority hold, the Russian energy company effectively gained control of 20 percent of the uranium in the U.S.

[Liz]

John Podesta has been close to political power for years, effortlessly getting numerous top level, high-powered govt jobs, and lobbying gigs.

Seems Podesta got rich trading on insider info......gettig powerful positions, lucrative lobbying referrals, and other gifts, like valuable stock in Russian-connected energy company (verified to date).

=========================================== \

<><> Podesta chaired Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

<><> Podesta is 2016 Hillary Clinton's campaign Chair.

<><> Podesta was President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff 1998-2001.

<><> Podesta owns the Podesta Group with his brother Tony, a major lobbying firm (has a website).

<><> Podesta is Chair of the Center for American Progress, a Washington DC-based think tank.

<><> Podesta headed Obama’s transition team in fall 2008.

<><> Podesta once served as Counselor to Obama.

<><> Podesta once worked at Hillary's State Dept.

<><> Podesta serves as the Clinton Foundation decision-maker.

<><> Podesta has been tapped for Hillary's COS, if elected.

<><> Podesta founded Progressive Media w/ CNN, HuffPo, MediaMatters, WaPo, Dem SPAC’s, etc.

<><> The podesta Lobbying Group received $900,000 in 2011/12 from the "European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a Brussels-based organization sympathetic to Viktor Yanukovych and his political party".

<><> The Podesta Brothers Lobbying Group represent (as of 2016) the interests of Russia's largest financial institution Sberbank of Russia, which controls approximately 30 percent of Russian banking assets.

<><> The Podesta Brothers Lobbying Group carries out public relations work for the government of Azerbaijan (once a part of the USSR) for a monthly fee of USD 60,000 plus expenses.

================================================

Podesta as Bill Clinton's COS.

Podesta as Counsellor to Obama.

Podesta as Hillary's campaign manager

[RitaOK]

Yes, but SHE WOMAN didn’t know anythink.

6,000,000,000 dollars later, of her campaign money, and SHE WOMAN was told nothink.

After all, opposition research is never shared with the candidate, right? SHE WOMAN knows nothink!