An informant that House Republicans claimed could link the sale of U.S. uranium in 2010 and donations to the Clinton Foundation provided “no evidence of a quid pro quo” during a four hour, closed-door testimony to a congressional panel in February, according to a Democrat memo on the hearing released Thursday.
William Douglas Campbell appeared before staff from the House Intelligence, House Oversight, and Senate Judiciary Committees last month to be asked what he knew about the Obama administration’s decision to sell Uranium One, a Canadian uranium mining company, to Russian state-owned power company Rosatom.
The Republican-led investigation into the transaction, which took place when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, had alleged Clinton had worked the sale in return for donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton denies the claims and has slammed the narrative as a “distraction” from the ongoing investigations into the allegations of Trump campaign collusion with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election.
In response to Republican refusal to release the full transcript, Democrats published their summary of Campbell’s hearing on Thursday.
“Mr. Campbell identified no evidence that Secretary Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton, or anyone from the Obama Administration took any actions as a result of Russian requests or influence,” it reads.
The deal was approved by all representatives at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), comprised of staff from nine U.S. government agencies including the State Department. Clinton was not present at the vote but a lower level official was.
“When asked whether he had any evidence that Russian influence on the Clintons affected CFIUS’s review of the Uranium One deal,” the memo continues, “Mr. Campbell stated that ‘that was outside my pay grade’ and that the topic was ‘not my bailiwick.’”
Campbell, a lobbyist, had been an informant in the FBI’s investigation and prosecution of Russian official Vadim Mikerin in 2015—unconnected to Uranium One. Mikerin had worked as head of U.S. operations at Rosatom subsidiary Tenex, but was eventually imprisoned for his role in a money-laundering and extortion scheme.
Campbell’s evidence against the official, however, was not used in final legal proceedings because of “inconsistencies,” which gave the Justice Department “serious credibility concerns.”
