Fact Checker The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained '20 percent of our uranium' [View all]

[DonViejo]

By Glenn Kessler October 31 at 3:00 AM

“How is it that our government could approve a sale of 20 percent of our uranium at the same time that there was an open FBI investigation?”
— Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto, Oct. 26, 2017

“Knowing what you know about Russia, was it really a good idea for the Obama administration and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to approve a deal giving the Russians control of 20 percent of our uranium supply? . . . Why did Hillary’s office and the Obama administration sign off on giving the Russians a fifth of our uranium? . . . Why is that a good idea to give a hostile power 20 percent of our uranium supplies? It’s insane though. . . . How would Hillary Clinton not know if a Russian company was getting 20 percent of our uranium supply? What was she doing?”
— Tucker Carlson, on Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Oct. 23

-snip-

The Pinocchio Test

The 20 percent figure has long been in wide circulation. As we noted, the Fact Checker recently used it, though with caveats. But we should have looked at the actual production data and asked the NRC for an updated estimate of production capacity. Clearly, the number is woefully out of date.

Given that Uranium One’s production is only 2 percent of an already small total U.S. production — not 20 percent — the overwrought claims that Clinton “gave away” 20 percent of the U.S. nuclear supply or that Russia controls that much U.S. uranium are simply absurd.

Four Pinocchios



Full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/31/the-repeated-incorrect-claim-that-russia-obtained-20-percent-of-our-uranium/?utm_term=.1c3180c5d7ec