(CNSNews.com) — House Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called on Special Counsel Robert Mueller — who is investigating alleged Russian collusion with the Trump 2016 campaign — to resign because there is an apparent conflict of interest involving Mueller and an alleged campaign to undermine the president and force him from office.
Rep. Gaetz also called for a special prosecutor to investigate the Uranium One scandal, the Clinton Foundation, and the Fusion GPS firm, which produced the “Russian dossier” alleging Trump-Russia collusion and which was paid by Obama for America’s law firm, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation is, in part, based on the Fusion GPS-provided “dossier.”
“We are at risk of a coup d’état in this country if we allow an unaccountable person [Mueller] with no oversight to undermine the duly-elected president of the United States,” said Gaetz in a Nov. 8 speech on the House floor. “And I would offer that is precisely what is happening right now with the indisputable conflicts of interest that are present with Mr. Mueller and others at the Department of Justice.”
“I join my colleague, the gentleman from Arizona [Rep. Trent Franks], in calling for Mr. Mueller’s resignation or his firing,” said Gaetz. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) called for Mueller to resign in August 2017 because of his friendship with James Comey, the man who succeeded him as FBI director in 2013 and who was fired by President Trump in May 2017.
Mueller was the FBI director from 2001 to Septmber 2013. Comey is one of the figures in the alleged Russia-Trump collusion investigation.
“Moreover, we absolutely have to see the Department of Justice appoint a special counsel to look into the Clinton Foundation, the Uranium One deal, and the Fusion GPS dossier that I will now have the opportunity to discuss,” said Rep. Gaetz.
The congressman then noted that the Justice Department has yet to respond to a letter sent to it by the House Judiciary Committee back in July with questions about the Uranium One scandal.
The Uranium One matter is about the 2010 sale of Vancouver-basedUranium One to Rosatom, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation. That sale, because it involved uranium and national security issues, had to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which, at the time, included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, among other Obama administration officials.
Former President Bill Clinton was friends with people invested in Uranium One. Prior to the sale, a Russian bank promoting the Uranium One pending puchase, paid Bill Clinton $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow. Also, at least nine investors in Uranium One prior to, during, and after the October 2010 sale donated $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. While all this was occuring, the FBI, headed by Mueller, was investigating a bribery and kickback case involving a subsidiary of Rosatom and the transportation of uranium into the United States.
Despite abundant evidence of bribery and money laundering involving Russian nuclear official Vadim Mikerin, the sale of Uranium One was approved, which gave Rosatom (and Russian President Vladimir Putin) control over 20% of U.S. uranium production.
At the time, Mueller was the FBI director; the lead attorney on the case was Rod Rosenstein, now the deputy attorney general; and FBI agent Andrew McCabe, now the assistant FBI director. McCabe’s wife, Jill McCabe, received nearly $500,000 from a then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe political action committee. McAuliffe is close friends with the Clintons. Jill McCabe was running for the Virginia State Senate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton. (Screenshot YouTube)
Commenting on these issues and Mueller’s connection to them, Rep. Gaetz said, “I do know that there’s no world in which Mr. Mueller can potentially investigate these matters. It is federal law that even the appearance of a conflict of interest means that someone cannot engage in prosecutorial duties regarding allegations and investigations. That conflict of interest is absolutely present.”
“As early as 2009, the FBI knew that we had informants alleging corruption into United States uranium assets,” said Gaetz. “There were allegations of bribery, kickbacks, extortion. Even in 2010, members of Congress were raising these questions and asking the Obama administration to provide answers that were never given.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that at the same time we were hearing from sources that there was bribery to influence our uranium assets, you had former President Bill Clinton getting paid $500,000 by a bunch of Russians to go give a speech,” said Gaetz.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, former director of the FBI (2001-2013)
(Screenshot YouTube)
“Must have been one hell of a speech!” he said. “But it’s deeply troubling to me that these circumstances seems to be ripe for corruption, and seem to demonstrate an ecosystem of corruption that must be thoroughly investigated.”
The congressman continued, “Now, why can’t Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein conduct this investigation? First of all, Mr. Mueller was the head of the FBI in 2009. He potentially had a role to play in these questions. At the very least, the fact that the FBI never prosecuted any case, never raised objections, never allowed Congress to be able to look into these matters, that would be an act of omission.”
“So, at best, there is an omission that creates a conflict of interest for Mr. Mueller,” said Gaetz, who earned his J.D. from the College of William and Mary. “At worst, there might have been actual malfeasance, or active negligence. And in those circumstances we need fresh eyes and clear eyes to give the American people confidence that our justice system is, in fact, working for them. But it’s not only the Uranium One deal that gives us a great deal to question.”
“The American people are well aware that the Clinton Foundation functioned largely as a money-laundering organization, to influence the State Department and to ensure that there were special people with special access, with special relationships to the Clintons, that got special treatment,” said Gaetz. “That is not an America that abides to the rule of law. And as a member of the Judiciary Committee we have to see the rule of law held up and cherished. We’re a model for the world.”
Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. (Screenshot YouTube)
“But if we have circumstances where our president, who was elected, is undermined as a consequence of these things,” he said, “if we do not replace Bob Mueller with someone who can come in absent of association with the individuals who may be implicated, then I fear that this special place that we hold in the world may be diminished.”
Gaetz then mentioned that he has introduced a resolution calling for Robert Mueller to resign and for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation.
“And to my colleagues on the other side who say, well, hey, you know, there were a variety of agencies that were involved in approving the Uranium One deal, there were eight or nine groups that could have said no,” remarked Rep. Gaetz. “Are members of Congress really taking the position that the Clintons don’t have their tentacles in just about every agency of government?”
“How ludicrous!” said Gaetz. “You’re talking about the former president of the United States and, at the time, the lady who was serving as our Secretary of State. The fact that this was a multiagency process only underscores the conflicts of interest that lie with Rosenstein and Mueller.”
