In the wake of a new report by the Washington Post claiming to reveal Attorney General Jeff Sessions communicated with a top Russian official during the 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump suggested the attorney general and Special Counsel Robert Mueller should investigate several alleged scandals committed by Hillary Clinton and one by former FBI Director James Comey.
“So many people are asking why isn’t the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?” Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning.
So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
Three minutes later, Trump wrote, “...What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc.”
Clinton received significant criticism for her role in the sale of a Canadian uranium company to a state-owned Russian business. In 2015, Uranium One donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation while seeking approval to sell 51.4 percent of the company to Rosatum, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation. Uranium One’s assets included 20 percent of the United States’ uranium capacity. The deal needed to be signed off by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel on which Hillary Clinton, as the secretary of state, served. CFIUS did eventually approve the deal, but only after the Clinton Foundation received the substantial donations.
The Clinton Foundation has also been accused of numerous other “pay to play” schemes in which special access for foreign officials and businesses was given to Hillary Clinton while she served as secretary of state, allegedly in return for donations to the foundation.
Clinton has never been charged with violating any laws for these actions, even though if the allegations are true, they were likely illegal.
Earlier on Saturday morning, Trump also referred to a story published by the Washington Post claiming Sessions had communications with a Russian official about Trump’s presidential campaign as an “illegal leak,” but he didn’t say whether he believes the story is true.
“A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions. These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!” Trump wrote.
A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post,this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions.These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
On Friday, the Washington Post reported leaked intercepts possessed by U.S. intelligence officials show during the 2016 election, when Sessions served as a Trump campaign adviser, Sessions had conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about issues related to how the Trump campaign would govern.
“One U.S. official said that Sessions — who testified that he has no recollection of an April encounter — has provided ‘misleading’ statements that are ‘contradicted by other evidence,’” the Washington Post reported. “A former official said that the intelligence indicates that Sessions and Kislyak had ‘substantive’ discussions on matters including Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues and prospects for U.S.-Russia relations in a Trump administration.”
The source in the story was anonymous, and leaking the information to the press is illegal.
In Trump’s Saturday tweet, he also suggested “Comey crimes” should be investigated, which is likely a reference to James Comey’s decision to leak to the New York Times memos containing classified information. The memos were leaked to the press to reveal notes Comey took while having conversations with Trump.
Justin Haskins
