Undercover FBI informant Douglas Campbell told Congress in a written statement that Moscow was sending millions of dollars to an American lobbying firm.
The money was being used to benefit Bill Clinton’s charitable efforts while wife and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aimed to improve U.S.-Russia relations during her tenure at the State Department.
Campbell also went on record to outline Russia’s efforts in assisting Iran’s nuclear program at the same time the Obama Administration was clearing the way for Moscow’s state-controlled nuclear company to win billions in new uranium sales inside the U.S.
In a statement obtained by The Hill, Campbell explained that he was told by Russian nuclear executives that Moscow was working with American lobbying firm APCO Worldwide. The lobbying firm was intentionally chosen by Moscow because it had the ability to influence the Obama Administration, and more specifically, Hilary Clinton.
During his testimony, Campbell said that Russian nuclear officials “told me at various times that they expected APCO to apply a portion of the $3 million annual lobbying fee it was receiving from the Russians to provide in-kind support for the Clintons’ Global Initiative.”
“The contract called for four payments of $750,000 over 12 months. APCO was expected to give assistance free of charge to the Clinton Global Initiative as part of their effort to create a favorable environment to ensure the Obama Administration made affirmative decisions on everything from Uranium One to the U.S.-Russia Civilian Nuclear Cooperation agreement,” he said.
Campbell’s statement also described an earlier meeting with Russian officials where they “boasted about how weak the U.S. government was in giving away uranium business,” and referred to then-President Barack Obama “with racial epithets,”
APCO vehemently denies any sort of connection or wrongdoing.
“APCO Worldwide’s activities involving client work on behalf of Tenex and The Clinton Global initiative were totally separate and unconnected in any way,” APCO said in a statement to The Hill. “All actions on these two unconnected activities were appropriate, publicly documented from the outset and consistent with regulations and the law. Any assertion otherwise is false and unfounded.”
Hillary Clinton’s communications director Nick Merrill said that Campbell’s account is simply being used as a distraction from the ongoing investigations into President Donald Trump and Russian election meddling.
“Just yesterday, the committee made clear that this secret informant charade was just that, a charade. Along with the widely debunked text-message-gate and [Rep. David] Nunes’ embarrassing memo episode, we have a trifecta of GOP-manufactured scandals designed to distract from their own President’s problems and the threat to democracy he poses,” Merrill said.
Top Democrats also cast their doubts on Campbell’s credibility.
Rep. Elijah Cummings from Maryland and Rep. Adam Ship of California asserted that U.S. Justice Department officials told both parties that they ultimately found they “could not trust” Campbell during his time as an FBI informant.
Justice officials also mentioned that Campbell never made “any allegations of corruption, illegality, or impropriety on Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, President Obama, the Uranium One deal, or [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.),” according to the Democrats.
Campbell’s written statement and testimony contradict the Democrats’ claims.
Campbell accused the Obama Administration of purposefully making decisions that would end up benefiting the Russian nuclear industry. He says that Russia sought to build a monopoly on the global uranium market to help Russian President Vladimir Putin seek a geopolitical advantage over the U.S.
“I expressed these concerns repeatedly to my FBI handlers. The response I got was that politics was somehow involved,” he stated.
The Uranium One deal gave Russian mining company Rosatom control of roughly 20 percent of America’s capacity to mine uranium. The deal was approved in 2010 by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a multi-agency board that included the State Department, the Defense Department and the Justice Department. The board has the power to block deals that threaten national security.
