White House Chief of Staff John Kelly calls for probe into Hillary Clinton’s ties with Russia

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, General John Kelly, has called for an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in a uranium deal between the US and Russia.

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Kelly said the public demanded explanations about the Uranium One deal that was authorized by Clinton’s state department and allowed Russia to take control over 20 percent of America’s uranium resources.

"The American people really do have a right to know what their government does… have a right to know what their government is doing on any given day, and by this same token what private citizens are doing if they break the law," he said.

The 2010 deal was struck between Russia’s Rosatom and Canadian mining company Uranium One, which had “control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States,” according to a report by The New York Times.

Because of uranium’s strategic nature, the deal had to be signed off by several federal government committees, including the State Department, which was then run by Hillary Clinton.

According to the Times, during Russia’s gradual takeover of the mines between 2009 and 2013, Canadian records showed that Uranium One chairman’s family foundation donated a total of $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Shortly after the deal, Hillary’s husband, former US President Bill Clinton, gave a speech in Russia for a hefty $500,000 paid by a Russian investment bank that promoted Uranium One stock at the time, the daily noted.

Kelly’s call to investigate Clinton came shortly after Special Counsel Robert Mueller overseeing a high-profile investigation into Trump’s “collusion” with Russia issued an indictment against Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign manager.

The 68-year-old is facing a total of 12 charges, which also include conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements and violating federal lobbying and banking laws.

Kelly said there might be a new special counsel needed because Mueller was serving as then FBI chief when Clinton was in office.

Trump repeats accusations against Clinton

Following Manafort’s arrest by the FBI, Trump wrote in a series of tweets that there was “no collusion” between his team and the Russian government and the investigation should focus on Clinton and former President Barack Obama.

Trump accused Clinton— his Democratic rival in last year’s presidential election— and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), had paid Washington-based intelligence firm Fusion GPS to put together the so-called “Russian dossier” which contains alleged evidence about Trump’s ties to Russia.

“Report out that Obama Campaign paid $972,000 to Fusion GPS. The firm also got $12,400,000 (really?) from DNC. Nobody knows who OK'd!” Trump said.