Right On: For Democrats, what goes around comes around, part 1

November 1, 2017 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — I have to hand it to her; Hillary Clinton is right on this one. Russians have been meddling in our politics in dangerous ways that threaten our democracy.

Then again, she should know. She was a party to the crime, a crime worse than Watergate or Iran-Contra.

She raised the issue of Russian meddling last year. Both she and Obama expressed alarm that Trump had positive things to say about Russian President Putin. In comparison, how did the two of them treat Russia?

March 2009: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “reset” relations with Russia, promising a “fresh start.”
March 2012: Obama told Russian President Medvedev that he will have “more flexibility” after the election.
October 2012: After Romney called Russia “our No. 1 geopolitical foe,” Obama responded that “the 1980s are calling and want their foreign policy back.”
March 2013: Obama canceled a missile defense system in Central Europe opposed by the Russians.

So did this Obama/Clinton reset improve relations with Russia? Hardly.

Kremlin hardliners must have been chuckling at U.S. naiveté while Russia annexed the Crimea, sent its military into the Ukraine, supported Iran and sent warplanes into Syria to back Assad Bashar.

But far more sinister things were going on behind the scenes during this same time period. Clinton used a deal with Russian nuclear companies for her personal gain and the Obama administration covered up the entire affair.

2009-10: A Russian nuclear company sought approval for its purchase of a Canadian company controlling 20 percent of U.S. uranium reserves. The FBI uncovered the company’s bribes, extortion and money laundering, all while the company was donating millions of dollars through third parties to the Clinton Foundation.
June 2010: Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for giving a 90-minute speech in Moscow, one of 11 payoffs that size or larger while his wife served as Secretary of State.
October 2010: The Obama administration approved the sale of U.S. uranium reserves.
November 2014: Vadim Mikerin, a Russian nuclear executive working in the U.S, was indicted. The indictment stated Mikerin “did combine, conspire, confederate and agree with other persons … to obstruct, delay and affect (uranium) commerce…by extortion.” His actions were known to the Obama administration five years earlier.
April 2015: The New York Times reported on the connection between the Russian uranium deal and donations to the Clinton Foundation.
August 2015: The Obama Justice Department issued a low-key notice saying Mikerin had reached a plea deal but only for money laundering.
December 2015: The Justice Department put out a press release stating “a former Russian official…was sentenced today to 48 months in prison” and ordered to forfeit more than $2.1 million.

This damning sequence of events speaks for itself.

The Clintons benefited personally to the tune of millions of Russian dollars since they use Clinton Foundation funds for their entertainment and travel expenses.

While Hillary served as secretary of state, seven foreign governments donated to her foundation, a clear violation of her pledge to the contrary. Of 154 private interests with whom she spoke over four years, 85 were donors. With her 2016 election loss, donations dried up and the foundation closed its doors. Connect the dots.

The Obama administration, anxiously pursuing its “reset” with the Russians, approved a seamy deal when it knew full well that criminal activity lay just below the surface.

Then the administration did all it could to hide the affair from public view. It delayed prosecution for five years to separate it from Hillary Clinton’s involvement as secretary of state. Next it struck a plea bargain that ignored the major crimes in favor of a generic money laundering charge, less likely to attract public notice.

Watergate was a watershed public corruption scandal. Any objective review of this scandal shows that it far exceeds a minor burglary and presidential cover-up. Here, millions of dollars were paid in what can easily be interpreted as bribes of a cabinet officer and a former president.

As to be expected, all parties involved have denied any wrongdoing.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder both sat on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that approved the Russian purchase. Both refuse to comment.

Other prominent names involved in this sordid affair have every reason to be conflicted today.

Robert Mueller was the FBI director during this entire time period. Ironically, he is now the independent counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and has every reason to obfuscate and exonerate FBI actions.

Mueller was appointed as independent counsel by Rod Rosenstein, now Trump’s deputy attorney general. Rosenstein supervised the Mikerin investigation. Rosenstein clearly knew that both he and Mueller were compromised to a degree at least as witnesses to the Obama administration cover-up. Also involved was then-assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, now the deputy FBI director under Trump.

Judges routinely recuse themselves for far less tangential involvement in a case.

All these names are part of the swamp Trump says he came to drain. Maybe the time has come for a major house cleaning.

Going one step further, I recommend naming a special counsel to investigate this entire affair. If Hillary and Bill avoid prosecution, at a minimum they should disgorge the ill-gotten “donations” to their foundation whose primary function has been to house former staffers and pay personal expenses.

Part 2 next week: Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and the real Russian meddling in 2016 presidential election politics.

Howard Sierer is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: hsierer@stgeorgeutah.com

Twitter: @STGnews