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Justice Department Frees Up Uranium One Informant to Congress

Two Republican House chairmen announced a probe into new reports about Russian efforts to influence the Uranium One nuclear purchase that gave Russia control of roughly 20 percent of America’s uranium and the Obama-era DOJ’s investigation of the deal. (Photo: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV/REUTERS /Newscom)

The Department of Justice released a former FBI informant from a confidentiality agreement, allowing him to testify before Congress about what he saw while undercover during a former President Barack Obama-era deal where a Russian-backed company bought a uranium firm with mines in the U.S.

Congressional committees have previously tried to interview the informant, whose name has yet to be released, due to the fact he was undercover for around five years, working to get information on Russia’s efforts to grow its atomic energy business in the U.S.

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DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores told The Hill a deal was reached, clearing the informant to talk to Congress for the first time—nearly eight years after he first went undercover for the FBI.

“As of tonight, the Department of Justice has authorized the informant to disclose to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as one member of each of their staffs, any information or documents he has concerning alleged corruption or bribery involving transactions in the uranium market, including but not limited to anything related to Vadim Mikerin, Rosatom, Tenex, Uranium One, or the Clinton Foundation,” Flores said.

On Tuesday morning, two Republican House chairmen announced a probe into new reports about Russian efforts to influence the Uranium One nuclear purchase that gave Russia control of roughly 20 percent of America’s uranium and the Obama-era DOJ’s investigation of the deal.

When Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, Russia routed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, and former President Bill Clinton collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in Russian speaking fees as part of Russian efforts to influence the U.S. government to approve the deal, The Hill reported.

The informant’s attorney, Victoria Toensing, said former attorneys general under the Obama administration, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, are the reason her client hasn’t been able to “tell what all the Russians were talking about during the time that all these bribery payments were made,” on Fox Business Monday.

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