Clinton: Threat Of Special Counsel For Uranium Deal Is ‘Politicization’ Of DOJ

Hillary Clinton at the Geisinger's National Healthcare Symposium in Danville, Pa., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Hillary Clinton at the Geisinger's National Healthcare Symposium in Danville, Pa., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she is “not concerned” about the potential appointment of a special counsel to investigate the so-called Uranium One scandal Republicans have homed in on in recent weeks.

During an exclusive interview with Mother Jones Wednesday, Clinton said reports that the attorney general had asked top prosecutors to look into appointing a special counsel to probe the sale of a uranium company to Russia represented a “politicization of the Justice Department.” She defended her actions, saying the Uranium One story “has been debunked countless times.”

“It is nothing but a false charge that the Trump administration is trying to drum up in order to avoid attention being drawn to them. I mean, even (Rep.) Trey Gowdy (R-SC), someone who is hardly a fan of mine, said that there doesn’t seem to be the basis for a special counsel,” she said. “Taking myself out of it, this is such an abuse of power and it goes right at the rule of law.”

Some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have decided the sale of Uranium One while Clinton was head of the State Department is the real Russia story and have claimed there was some type of link between the sale of the company to Russian interests in 2010 and donations to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton has maintained there was no link between the two and has cited that there were nine different federal agencies that signed off on the deal.

If they send a signal that we’re going to be like some dictatorship, like some authoritarian regime, where political opponents are going to be unfairly, fraudulently investigated, that rips at the fabric of the contract we have, that we can trust our justice system,” she said. “With all of our problems, you know them and I know them, ultimately we have to stand up for that, we have to believe that, we have to fix the problems when they occur and when justice is denied, but moving into the political realm is something we’ve never seen.”

She said if Attorney General Jeff Sessions decides to appoint a special counsel to investigate the deal, “nothing will come of it” but it will “cause a lot of terrible consequences,” like “demoralizing” the American people’s opinions of the justice system.

“It will also send a terrible signal to our country and the world that somehow we are giving up on the kind of values that we used to live by and we used to promote worldwide,” she said. “I’m not concerned, because I know that there is no basis to it. I regret if they do it because it will be such a disastrous step into politicizing the justice system.”

Watch the interview below:

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  1. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    “politicization of the Justice Department.”
    yeah? wasn’t that on Trump’s “first hundred days” to-do list

    • check it off as 'DONE"
  2. I would be fine with this. Maybe they will be able to get to the bottom of the whole Oval Office blow job thing.

  3. Avatar for kwd101 kwd101 says:

    A few points I’d like to see a Democrat or a member of our dastardly liberal media bring up:

    1. Why is Canada, specifically the conservative PM/administration at the time this deal, escaping all scrutiny?
    2. If they’re so concerned about Russia owning this company now, why is our GOP Congress and Senate dragging their feet on the Trump/collusion investigation?
    3. Can we propose a new law that forbids foreign ownership of any US resource deemed vital to our nation’s security? I can think of a certain controversial pipeline that really shouldn’t be built though our most important groundwater aquifer. You think the same people working so hard to manufacture this fake scandal would be okay with this new law, or would they screech “government overreach!”, “too many regulations!”, and “tyranny!” like they usually do?
  4. Nothing stopping concerned representatives writing to the Justice Department outlining the facts and their concerns, except the whole thing quickly falls apart with a modicum of scrutiny.

    This is updated favorite old script (see Whitewater) that continues to be hugely popular with Republican’s credulous base.

  5. One more article of impeachment…

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