The Justice Department is interviewing the FBI about former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's role in a controversial uranium deal with Russia.

Republicans have been calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the 2010 deal, which they say enriched the Clintons.

The controversy has been a sticking point for Republicans who allege the deal was evidence of pay-for-play.



Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered the Justice Department to interview FBI agents with knowledge of an investigation into Hillary Clinton's role in a uranium deal with Russia, reviving interest in what President Donald Trump has called a "modern-age" Watergate, NBC News reported on Thursday.

When the transaction became politicized during the 2016 campaign, some experts cast doubt over the legitimacy of the Clinton connection, as well as the national security threat posed by the deal.

The move comes a month after Republicans in Congress urged Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, the Uranium One deal, and the FBI's handling of its investigation into her private emails at secretary of state.

Calls to appoint a second special counsel came as early as July, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote a letter urging Sessions to consider it. Goodlatte wrote another letter to Sessions in September for the Justice Department to investigate "matters which may be outside the scope" of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2017 election, and the Trump campaign's role.

In 2010, Clinton and eight other top officials across the US government approved the sale of part of a company called Uranium One to the Russian government. It's unclear whether Clinton personally reviewed the deal, however.

Some Republicans argue this move simultaneously endangered national security and enriched the Clintons. Trump and his allies have seized on Uranium One as Mueller's investigation into the president's possible coordination with Russia to swing the 2016 election in his favor heats up.

"Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!" Trump tweeted in October.

The scandal first emerged as a point of contention following Breitbart News editor Peter Schewizer's 2015 book "Clinton Cash," which alleged that the uranium deal was evidence of a quid pro quo with Russian and Canadian businessmen who had made large donations to the Clinton Foundation around the time of the deal.

But The Washington Post and Politifact have debunked many of those claims, including Trump's frequent comments about the deal while on the campaign trail in 2016.

The FBI interviews will be used to determine whether Sessions needs to appoint a second special counsel to investigate Clinton, according to NBC.