Late Wednesday, when the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) weren’t able to get a report on the air, the FBI lifted a gag order on an informant and allowed them to share information on the Clinton-Uranium scandal with Congress without the need for a subpoena. But come Thursday, none of them mentioned the development on either their morning shows or their evening shows.
“The Justice Department lifted the FBI informant’s gag order, allowing that person to share records and evidence with Congress about the 2010 Uranium One deal that gave a Russian business control over a large swath of the U.S. uranium market,” reported Fox News Channel’s Catherine Herridge to start off Special Report Thursday evening.
In a press conference, House Speaker Paul Ryan explained how “the FBI got in touch with us yesterday afternoon, and they have informed us they will comply with our document request and that they will provide the documents Congress has been asking for by next week.”
The FBI informant was responsible for giving brand new information on the shady Uranium One deal to The Hill, which resulted in new interest in the Clinton scandal. According to the informant, the FBI was investigating Russia’s efforts to influence those involved in approving the deal and monitored them as the positioned themselves around Secretary Clinton.
“The allegations include bribery, and a concerted effort by Moscow to curry favor with then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton through a large speaking fee to her husband and donations to the family foundation,” Herridge explained. The donations to the Clinton Foundation measured into the millions of dollars and her husband’s Moscow speaking fee $500,000, larger than his usual fee.
Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversite Committee, told Fox News that he was concerned “a federal investigation was hidden by the Obama White House and kept from a senior government interagency committee that approved the sale,” according to Herridge.
“Uranium is an important resource and I need to make sure they had access to all the information,” Gowdy said. “If there is an ongoing criminal probe when they are making that important decision, I need to make sure there are no barriers to their access to information.”
The Big Three Networks have been incredibly tight-lipped about the existence of the scandal’s latest developments. Since The Hill story first broke on October 17 and with several subsequent reports adding to the scandal’s intrigue, the networks had dedicated a disgusting 20 seconds to actually reporting on the scandal. That 20 seconds came from ABC and they spent roughly half of that time parroting Clinton’s “baloney” dismissal of allegations.
Transcript below:
Fox News Channel
Special Report
October 26, 2017
6:01:03 PM EasternBRET BAIER: We begin with chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge in our Washington bureau as the plot thickens involving Democrats, Russians, and American uranium. Good evening, Catherine.
CATHERINE HERRIDGE: Thank you, Bret. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters today the FBI is finally cooperating and evidence will go to Capitol Hill within days.
[Cuts to video]
PAUL RYAN: The FBI got in touch with us yesterday afternoon, and they have informed us they will comply with our document request and that they will provide the documents Congress has been asking for by next week.
HERRIDGE: The Justice Department lifted the FBI informant’s gag order, allowing that person to share records and evidence with Congress about the 2010 Uranium One deal that gave a Russian business control over a large swath of the U.S. uranium market. Republican Chuck Grassley leads the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
CHUCK GRASSLEY: But there’s so much more than what we ever would have had information to before. So, let's start there and see what it does.
HERRIDGE: The allegations include bribery, and a concerted effort by Moscow to curry favor with then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton through a large speaking fee to her husband and donations to the family foundation. On Fox, the Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee questioned whether a federal investigation was hidden by the Obama White House and kept from a senior government interagency committee that approved the sale.
TREY GOWDY: Uranium is an important resource and I need to make sure they had access to all the information. If there is an ongoing criminal probe when they are making that important decision, I need to make sure there are no barriers to their access to information.
HERRIDGE: Democrats say the decision was not up to Clinton alone and the Republican-led investigations are a distraction.
ADAM SCHIFF: Apparently there is more interested in what happened seven years ago with Secretary Clinton then there is in the Russian investigation. And that's quite by design. I don't think we can do a good investigation if it's begun in bad faith, the way this one has.
(…)
