Glenn: Here's what we know about Uranium One, Hillary Clinton, and Russia

The Department of Justice has issued an 11-count indictment against the former co-president of a nuclear fuel transportation company in an alleged bribery scheme connected with Uranium One.  Of course, that’s just the latest development in the convoluted mess now known as the ‘Uranium One scandal’ which involves former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration, and Russia.

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During the Obama administration, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) voted to appropriate the sale of Uranium One to Russia’s government-run nuclear company, Rosatom. As it happens, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on CFIUS at the time the committee unanimously voted to approve the Uranium One sale, a deal that would hand 20 percent of America’s uranium supply over to Russia. Uranium One investors donated $ millions to the Clinton Foundation over the same time-period.

Uranium One 101

Glenn launched a new, week long chalkboard series today to take an in-depth look into the controversial Uranium One deal and it's alleged connections with Hillary Clinton, Putin and Russia. Tonight's show explains why uranium is so valuable and how the Russians ended up buying such a huge stake in Uranium One.

"A uranium pellet the size of a pencil eraser produces the same amount of energy as 149 gallons of oil, or 1780 pounds of coal ... that's pretty valuable stuff," said Glenn. "It is huge business. In 2016, the US power companies ... bought 51 million pounds ... selling at a price of $42 per pound. Do the math ... it's $2.1 billion. So that sets the stage. Uranium: vital national resource for both weapons and energy."

Given the importance and value of uranium, a deal to sell the majority stake in Uranium One to Russia's state-run energy agency, Rosatom, required US government approval. Here's where CFIUS and Hillary Clinton got involved. But why was the Russian government, i.e. Vladimir Putin, so interested in acquiring all that uranium in the first place?

"They need it; those nuclear subs aren't going to power themselves," explained Glenn, adding, "Putin is ambitious and he's no dummy. He sees the strategic advantage of controlling a big chunk of the world's uranium supply chain. Plus, I think that Putin probably sees this as another way to mess with the US."

Watch the video above to learn more about the Uranium One deal.

To see the full episode, subscribers of TheBlaze can watch “Glenn” live weekdays 5-6 p.m. ET or on demand here. Not a subscriber? Sign up for a FREE trial here.