Three GOP congressmen introduced a resolution Friday calling for special counsel Robert Mueller to resign from the Russia collusion probe, citing his ties to the FBI and its role in controversies involving Russia. 
 
 Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, along with co-sponsors, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, introduced the resolution on Friday. 
 
 “Evidence has emerged that the FBI withheld information from Congress and from the American people about Russian corruption of American uranium companies,” Gaetz said in a statement Friday. “A confidential U.S. witness, working in the Russian nuclear industry, revealed that Russia had deeply compromised an American uranium trucking firm through bribery and financial kickbacks.” 
 
 Gaetz was referring to Mueller’s supervision of a bribery probe involving a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom, which eventually got approval from the U.S. to buy a Canadian mining company, Uranium One, that controlled a swath of American uranium reserves. At the time of the probe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel, was a U.S. attorney and Mueller was FBI director. Republicans want to know how that deal was approved despite the evidence gathered in the bribery probe. 
 
 MUELLER FACING NEW REPUBLICAN PRESSURE TO RESIGN IN RUSSIA PROBE 
 
 Gaetz also pointed to the FBI informant, whose gag order was lifted by the Justice Department last week, and is now able to provide information to Congress, free of the FBI’s nondisclosure agreement he signed when Mueller served as director. 
 
 “Although federal agents possessed this information in 2010, the Department of Justice continued investigating this “matter” for over four years. The FBI, led at the time by Robert Mueller, required the confidential witness to sign a non-disclosure agreement. When the witness attempted to contact Congress and federal courts about the bribery and corruption he saw, he was threatened with legal action,” Gaetz said in a statement. “By silencing him, Obama’s Justice Department and Mueller’s FBI knowingly kept Congress in the dark about Russia’s significant and illegal involvement with American uranium companies.” 
 
 Gaetz said that due to these “deeply troubling” events, Mueller’s “impartiality is hopelessly compromised.” 
 
 
 
 “He must step down immediately,” Gaetz said Friday. 
 
 Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., has also called for Mueller’s resignation. 
 
 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has called for an independent special counsel to investigate the Obama-era Uranium One deal. 
 
 There are currently two pieces of legislation in the Senate, with bipartisan sponsorship, that would ensure a judicial check on the executive branch’s ability to remove a special counsel. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are behind the bills, along with Democratic senators. 
 
 The proposed resolution comes just days after Mueller’s team announced the first charges in their investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign officials in the 2016 presidential election. 
 
 Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates were indicted on 12 counts by a federal grand jury as part of the probe. Both pleaded not guilty. And Former Trump foreign policy campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos entered a guilty plea on Monday after admittedly making false statements to the FBI. ||||| Thomson Reuters Robert Mueller. 
 
 Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is calling for Robert Mueller to resign as the special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US election. 
 
 Gaetz cites a lack of charges relating to a 2010 uranium deal approved by US government agencies under Mueller's watch as the reason. 
 
 
 
 WASHINGTON - A group of conservative Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution on Friday calling for Robert Mueller to recuse himself as the special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and whether President Donald Trump's campaign team colluded with Moscow. 
 
 Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Louie Gohmert of Texas say Mueller should step down because he was the FBI director in 2010 when US government agencies approved the sale of Uranium One, a Canadian energy company, to a Russian nuclear-energy firm. The deal required approval because Uranium One had mining operations in the US. 
 
 Gaetz says the issue is that Mueller's FBI had found evidence of criminal activity that may have been relevant to the deal but did not bring any charges, and that Mueller therefore should recuse himself from the current investigation. 
 
 "These deeply troubling events took place when Mr. Mueller was the Director of the FBI. As such, his impartiality is hopelessly compromised," Gaetz said in a statement. "He must step down immediately." 
 
 Many of Gaetz's Republican colleagues, however, have previously expressed support for Mueller and his investigation. Senate Republicans have even introduced bills to create a barrier between Trump and Mueller in the event the president attempts to fire him. 
 
 Some conservatives have latched on to the Uranium One deal recently, pointing to a report tangentially tying the deal to the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, who was the secretary of state at the time, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By Dartunorro Clark 
 
 Two Republican-led committees will probe an Obama-era uranium sale to Russia, Rep. Devin Nunes announced Tuesday. 
 
 Nunes, the GOP chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said he would team up with House Oversight Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to jointly investigate the Obama administration’s decision to approve the sale of a Canadian company with American uranium mining abilities to a Kremlin-backed energy company. 
 
 President Donald Trump called for such an investigation on Twitter in March. The Senate Judiciary Committee announced last week that it would also be investigating the deal. 
 
 “One of the things that we're concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation, if there was a DOJ investigation and, if so, why wasn’t Congress informed?” Nunes said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “It’s important for us to find out why this deal went through.” 
 
 Rosatom, a Russian atomic energy company, purchased a majority stake in a Canadian company called Uranium One between 2009 and 2013, a move that was approved while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, according to The New York Times. 
 
 Trump has railed against the deal as recently as last week, claiming that the story has gone uncovered. 
 
 “Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!" he tweeted. 
 
 During the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump claimed that Clinton "gave up" 20 percent of America's uranium because of the deal. Politifact rated this assertion "mostly false." 
 
 The State Department was one of nine government agencies, including several other federal and state regulators, that had to sign off on the sale. 
 
 Also on Tuesday, Gowdy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte announced a separate probe into the FBI's handling of its investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. 
 
 Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized both of the new investigations as "partisan" and accused his Republican colleagues of a "fundamental lack of seriousness" when it comes to uncovering the extent of Russia's election meddling. 
 
 "Acting on the urging of the President who has repeatedly denied the intelligence agencies' conclusions regarding Russian involvement in our election, they are designed to distract attention and pursue the President's preferred goal — attacking Clinton and Obama," Schiff said in a statement.
– In a sign of just how frustrated some in the GOP are with special counsel Robert Mueller after "indictment week," three House Republicans introduced a measure Friday that would pressure Mueller to step down. The nonbinding measure, introduced by Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert, would put the House on record as believing Mueller should resign because he's unfit to lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Politico reports. Why? Due to "obvious conflicts of interest," including his relationship with James Comey, who succeeded him at the FBI and was later ousted from his post by President Trump; among other things, Mueller is investigating whether anyone in the Trump administration obstructed justice during that ouster. Per Fox News, the measure also makes note of Mueller's supervision of a bribery probe when he was FBI director that involved a Russian nuclear-energy company that got approval from US government agencies to buy a Canadian energy company that had mining operations in the US. "Evidence has emerged that the FBI withheld information from Congress and from the American people about Russian corruption of American uranium companies," Gaetz said in a statement wondering how the deal got US approval despite the bribery probe. The representatives say that's another reason Mueller should recuse himself as special counsel, as his "impartiality is hopelessly compromised." But, as multiple outlets including Business Insider note, most Republicans so far support keeping Mueller in place, including those in leadership positions.