Former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka has blasted Hillary Clinton for her alleged role in a Russian uranium deal when she was secretary of state, even going so far as to compare her to a couple who was executed for spying in the 50s.
Former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka has blasted Hillary Clinton for her alleged role in a Russian uranium deal when she was secretary of state, even going so far as to compare her to a couple who were executed for spying in the 50s.
The comment was made on Fox News Thursday after host Sean Hannity said, "The Russians infiltrated our national security to corner the uranium market and they succeeded, and they knew all the crimes that were committed."
Gorka chimed in, saying, "If this had happened in the 1950s, there would be people up on treason charges right now."
"The Rosenbergs, okay? This is equivalent to what the Rosenbergs did and those people got the chair," he added. "Think about it. Giving away nuclear capability to our enemies, that's what we're talking about."
Gorka was referring to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were put to death in the electric chair in 1953 for spying after her brother, a Manhattan Project employee, implicated them in a Soviet plot to gain classified information about the atomic bomb.
Meanwhile, the uranium deal, signed in 2010 under the Obama administration, has been attracting renewed attention, with Republican representatives announcing the launch of an investigation into it, reports CNN.
The probe may have been prompted, at least in part, by a report from The Hill last week which stated "the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin's atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews."
The piece goes on to say that, despite an ongoing Justice Department investigation, the Obama administration decided to move forward with "the partial sale of Canadian mining company Uranium One to the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, giving Moscow control of more than 20 percent of America's uranium supply."
Hillary Clinton has also been drawn into the controversy, with the New York Times reporting in 2015 that some of the people who had helped build Uranium One had contributed more than $2 million to the Clinton Foundation.
The alleged transfer of money occurred during a time when Mrs. Clinton was head of the U.S. State Department, one of several agencies that had to weigh in on the sale.
Despite allegations of potential wrongdoing by Trump during the campaign, a PolitiFact investigation concluded, "While the connections between the Clinton Foundation and the Russian deal may appear fishy, there was simply no proof of any quid pro quo."
Furthermore, media outlets have pointed out that the sale required the approval of eight other agencies, and Clinton herself has called the allegations against her "baloney."