Trump blasts Obama-era uranium sale as 'Watergate, modern-age'

President Trump has said he considers the Obama-era approval of a uranium deal involving a Russia-linked entity to be a modern version of Watergate.

“I think the uranium sale to Russia and the way that it was done—so underhanded with tremendous amounts of money being passed—I actually think that’s Watergate, modern-age," Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

The comparison comes a day after Republican representatives announced the launch of an investigation into the 2010 deal, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The recent attention may have been sparked, 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.”

“Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years…during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions," the piece further notes.

According to The Hill, one of these decisions included “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.”

Plus, 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.”

Critics have also accused the Trump administration of bringing up the uranium sale as a way to divert attention from the investigation into the president’s own alleged involvement with Russia.