Former Massachusetts Gov. and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that a report of donations to the Clinton Foundation linked to a deal involving Russian uranium interests “looks like bribery.”
“I presume we might know for sure whether there was or was not bribery if she hadn’t wiped out thousands of emails,” Mr. Romney told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “But this is a very, very serious series of facts, and it looks like bribery.”
The New York Times reported this week that the Clinton Foundation accepted $2.35 million from a businessman involved in a Russian uranium deal that got approval from the U.S. State Department — contributions not disclosed despite a memorandum of understanding with the Obama administration.
“This is a very troubling set of facts, and clearly, there’s got to be some kind of investigation to find out what the truth is here, because around the world, people are going to look at Hillary Clinton, a potential candidate for president, a former secretary of state, and say gosh, is this a person who could be trusted?” Mr. Romney said. “And I think the American people are asking that question as well.”
The deal ended up giving Rosatom, Russia’s atomic energy agency, control of uranium mines form Asia to the western United States. Shortly after Russians announced plans to buy mining giant Uranium One, a Russian bank with ties to the Kremlin paid former President Clinton $500,000 for a speech in Moscow, according to the report.
Mr. Romney argued that such money would effectively be going to both Clintons.
SEE ALSO: Hillary Clinton under fire for foreign donations, link to Russia uranium deal
“Their assets are comingled. This is the same thing as if a half a million dollars went to Hillary Clinton,” he said. “And as secretary of state, you just can’t have foreign governments or groups that are associated with foreign governments, or fronts for foreign governments, giving money to the United States secretary of state. This, you know, her responsibility as secretary of state is the centerpiece of her presidential campaign. And at best, it’s an ethical morass. That’s at best.”
The Clinton campaign has pushed back furiously on the report, as well as new previews of the book “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich” by conservative author Peter Schweizer.
“The bottom line remains that the book fails to produce a shred of evidence supporting the theory that Hillary Clinton ever took action as Secretary of State for the purposes of supporting the interests of donors to the Clinton foundation,” campaign spokesman Brian Fallon wrote in a memo.
Another donor to the foundation named in the article, Frank Giustra, has also posted his own statement rebutting aspects of the story.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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