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[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 456 Introduced in House (IH)]
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 456
Objecting to the conduct of the President of the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 19, 2017
Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Carson of Indiana,
Ms. Lee, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr.
Cicilline, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr.
Yarmuth, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Ms. Bass, Mr. Ellison, Mr.
Gutierrez, Ms. Fudge, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Maxine Waters of
California, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Lofgren,
Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Payne, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Ted Lieu of
California, and Mr. Cardenas) submitted the following resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and
in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Objecting to the conduct of the President of the United States.
Whereas, on January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump swore to ``faithfully execute the
Office of President of the United States'' and to ``preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution of the United States.'';
Whereas the Constitution prohibits Federal office holders from accepting
emoluments of any kind from a foreign state without the consent of
Congress;
Whereas President Trump has refused to divest, place into a blind trust, or
otherwise give up his ownership interest in his worldwide business
holdings since becoming President;
Whereas President Trump has refused to release his tax returns, in a break from
the practice of United States Presidents for more than 40 years;
Whereas, on February 14, 2017, the Chinese Government registered a trademark to
Donald John Trump for branded construction services, following a 10-year
legal battle that turned in Donald John Trump's favor after he declared
his candidacy for President of the United States;
Whereas, on February 27, 2017, and March 6, 2017, the Chinese Government granted
preliminary approval of 38 new trademarks to Donald John Trump and one
of his companies, and the director of a Hong Kong intellectual property
consultancy said he had never seen so many applications approved so
expeditiously, and the approvals closely followed President Trump's
decision to honor the one-China policy, in contrast to his earlier
statements;
Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the consent of Congress
before accepting any of these trademark benefits from China;
Whereas President Trump owns approximately 77 percent of the Trump Old Post
Office LLC, which holds a lease from the General Services Administration
to operate the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC;
Whereas the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, has actively courted
foreign diplomats for their business and, according to public reports
since the November 2016 election, diplomats have made plans to stay at
the hotel to curry favor with Donald John Trump and, whereas, some
diplomats have said spending money at Trump's hotel is an easy, friendly
gesture to the new President;
Whereas, in late January 2017, a lobbying firm working for the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia paid for a room at the Trump International Hotel in Washington,
DC, after Inauguration Day as part of its effort to bring activists to
Washington to urge Congress to repeal the law letting 9/11 victims'
families sue the Kingdom;
Whereas the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, has reportedly taken in
$270,000 in payments tied to Saudi Arabia for expenses including
lodging, catering, and parking expenses;
Whereas, on February 22, 2017, the Embassy of Kuwait held its National Day
Celebration at Trump International Hotel Washington, DC;
Whereas, on or about April 6, 2017, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of Georgia to the United Nations stayed at Trump International Hotel in
Washington, DC;
Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the consent of Congress
before accepting any of the benefits from foreign states derived from
their patronage of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC;
Whereas President Trump owns Trump Tower, a mixed-use skyscraper in New York
City and at least two tenants of Trump Tower are entities owned by
foreign states, including--
(1) the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is owned by
China; and
(2) Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, which is owned by the United
Arab Emirates;
Whereas President Trump did not first seek or obtain the consent of Congress
before accepting any of the benefits from foreign states derived from
their patronage of the Trump Tower in New York City;
Whereas President Trump owns Trump World Tower in New York City and whereas, in
2001, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia purchased a floor of Trump World Tower
and the floor currently belongs to the Saudi Mission to the United
Nations;
Whereas President Trump has not sought or obtained the consent of Congress for
any benefits he has received, such as monthly assessments, from Saudi
Arabia due to its use of Trump World Tower in New York City;
Whereas President Trump is an executive producer of ``The Apprentice'' and the
state-owned television station BBC One in the United Kingdom pays
licensing fees to broadcast the show;
Whereas President Trump has not sought or obtained the consent of Congress
before accepting benefits from the United Kingdom, or any other foreign
government, in the form of licensing fees for ``The Apprentice'';
Whereas President Trump's travel to resorts in which he has an ownership
interest, such as Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, the Trump National
Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Trump National Golf Club in
Sterling, Virginia, costs taxpayers millions of dollars while such
resorts receive the benefit of publicity;
Whereas President Trump appointed Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn to
serve as National Security Advisor;
Whereas, on January 26, 2017, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates warned White
House Counsel Don McGahn that National Security Advisor Flynn had misled
Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with Russian
Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and that, as a result,
Flynn was at risk of being blackmailed by the Russians;
Whereas Flynn was not asked to resign from the Administration until February 13,
2017;
Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump invited FBI Director James Comey
to a one-on-one dinner at the White House, during which he told Director
Comey he needed loyalty;
Whereas, on February 14, 2017, President Trump told Director James Comey, ``I
hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn
go,'' and, ``He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.'';
Whereas, on March 20, 2017, Director James Comey testified before Congress that
the FBI was investigating Russian interference with the 2016 United
States Presidential election and whether there was any collusion with
the Trump campaign;
Whereas, on May 9, 2017, while the FBI was investigating whether there was any
collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, President Trump fired
FBI Director James Comey;
Whereas in his letter informing Director James Comey that he was being
terminated, President Trump said, ``While I greatly appreciate you
informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under
investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department
of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.'';
Whereas, on May 12, 2017, while speaking in a nationally televised interview
about his decision to fire Director James Comey, President Trump said,
``And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you
know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it's
an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should
have won.'';
Whereas, according to a published report, President Trump told Russian
officials, ``I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut
job . . . I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off.'';
Whereas, on May 12, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``James Comey better hope
that there are no `tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking
to the press!'';
Whereas, on June 22, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``With all of the recently
reported electronic surveillance, intercepts unmasking and illegal
leaking of information, I have no idea . . . whether there are `tapes'
or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make,
and do not have, any such recordings'';
Whereas, on March 4, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``Terrible! Just found out
that Obama had my `wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory.
Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!'' and, ``How low has President Obama
gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is
Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!'';
Whereas, on March 20, 2017, at a hearing of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence of the House of Representatives, both FBI Director James
Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers both denied
there was any information supporting President Trump's allegation that
President Obama had wiretapped President Trump;
Whereas, on May 10, 2017, while hosting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak at the White
House, President Trump revealed highly classified ``code-word'' level
information to Ambassador Kislyak, concerning information from a United
States intelligence partner;
Whereas President Trump prohibited American press from witnessing his May 10,
2017, meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian
Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak at the White House, but
allowed a Russian photographer to have access;
Whereas, on April 29, 2017, while speaking by telephone with Philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte, President Trump revealed that the United
States had two nuclear submarines near North Korea;
Whereas, in February 2017, while President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago Club, President Trump discussed a ballistic
missile test by North Korea in an unsecured dining terrace in view of
club dining patrons;
Whereas President Trump has appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as
an envoy to foreign leaders, despite having no diplomatic experience;
Whereas United States foreign policy has long been based on both our Nation's
interest as well as our values, including democracy, freedom of the
press, and promotion of human rights;
Whereas, on April 3, 2017, when speaking about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi, President Trump said, ``We agreed on so many things. I just
want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are
very much behind President al-Sisi. He's done a fantastic job in a very
difficult situation.'';
Whereas President al-Sisi rose to power in a coup, and in his country
antigovernment protests have been banned, freedom of press and freedom
of religion have been repressed, some independent human rights groups
have been banned, and it has been estimated that 60,000 political
prisoners have been detained;
Whereas, on April 29, 2017, President Trump invited Philippines President
Rodrigo Duterte to visit him at the White House, despite the fact that
Duterte has been accused of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects;
Whereas, on March 17, 2017, President Trump refused to shake German Chancellor
Angela Merkel's hand in an Oval Office meeting;
Whereas, on May 25, 2017, President Trump pushed aside Montenegro Prime Minister
Dusko Markovic in order to move to the front of a group of NATO leaders;
Whereas President Trump has been slow to fill critical diplomatic posts
including the United States Ambassadors to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia,
South Korea, and other State Department positions that are vital to our
Nation's security;
Whereas, on January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an Executive order that
banned nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the
United States for at least 90 days, banned admission of all refugees for
four months, indefinitely blocked refugees from Syria, and contained
language prioritizing the admission of non-Muslims from majority Muslim
nations;
Whereas, on January 31, 2017, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said,
``This is not a travel ban . . . This is not--I repeat, not--a ban on
Muslims . . .'';
Whereas, on January 31, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said,
``First of all, it's not a travel ban.'';
Whereas, on February 3, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart in the
State of Washington blocked implementation of the travel ban nationwide;
Whereas, on February 9, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit ruled against reinstating the travel ban;
Whereas, on March 6, 2017, President Trump issued a revised Executive order that
removed Iraq from the list of nations from which immigration would be
temporarily banned, and no longer contained language indefinitely
banning Syrian refugees or calling for prioritized admission for non-
Muslims fleeing majority Muslim nations;
Whereas, on March 15, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in the
State of Hawaii blocked implementation of President Trump's revised
Executive order, noting that when Mr. Trump was asked during the
Presidential campaign if he was pulling back from a ``Muslim ban'', Mr.
Trump said, ``I don't think it's a rollback. In fact, you could say it's
an expansion. I'm looking now at territories. People were so upset when
I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can't use the word Muslim. Remember
this. And I'm okay with that, because I'm talking about territory
instead of Muslim.'';
Whereas Judge Watson also noted that Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller
had told Fox News that the revised Executive order would have the ``same
basic policy outcome for the country'', and that Rudolph Giuliani had
explained the origin of the original Executive order by saying, ``When
[Mr. Trump] first announced it, he said `Muslim ban.' He called me up.
He said, `Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it
legally.''';
Whereas, on May 25, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
upheld a preliminary injunction blocking President Trump's revised
Executive order, saying it ``drips with religious intolerance, animus,
and discrimination.'';
Whereas, on June 5, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``People, the lawyers and
courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need
and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!'';
Whereas, on June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge by
the Trump administration to rulings blocking full implementation of the
President's revised Executive order;
Whereas, on June 29, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``I heard poorly rated
@Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low
I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came . . . to Mar-a-Lago 3
nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She
was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!'';
Whereas, in a February 4, 2017, tweet, President Trump referred to a Federal
judge with whom he disagreed as a ``so-called judge'';
Whereas, in a May 9, 2017, President Trump referred to the United States Senate
Minority Leader as ``Cryin' Chuck Schumer'' in a tweet;
Whereas, on April 28, 2017, President Trump referred to United States Senator
Elizabeth Warren as ``Pocahontas'' in a speech to the National Rifle
Association;
Whereas President Trump has called press reports, ``fake news'' and in some
instances his administration has prohibited video recordings of White
House press briefings;
Whereas President Trump used Twitter to circulate a video of him violently
wrestling a man covered by a CNN logo, which, according to the Reporters
Committee on Freedom of the Press, was a ``threat of physical violence
against journalists . . . [and] beneath the office of the presidency.'';
Whereas free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy;
Whereas, on January 6, 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
detailed Russian efforts to influence the 2016 Presidential election,
stating, ``We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an
influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.
Russia's goals were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic
process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and
potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government
developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.'';
Whereas President Trump has refused to acknowledge, unequivocally, that Russia
meddled in the 2016 Presidential election, saying, instead, things like
``I think it very well could be Russia but I think it could very well
have been other countries . . . I think a lot of people interfere.'';
Whereas, on June 6, 2017, while on foreign soil, President Trump criticized
former President Obama, saying, ``The thing I have to mention is that
Barack Obama when he was President found out about this in terms of if
it were Russia, found out about it in August, now the election was in
November, that's a lot of time he did nothing about it. Why did he do
nothing about it? He was told it was Russia by the CIA as I understand
it . . . I think what happened was that he thought that Hillary Clinton
was going to win the election and he said let's not do anything about
it.'';
Whereas President Obama issued repeated warnings to Russian officials, including
a direct warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, approved a
cyberwarfare campaign against Russia, and expelled Russian diplomats
from the United States;
Whereas, on July 9, 2017, President Trump tweeted, ``Putin & I discussed forming
an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many
other negative things, will be guarded . . .'';
Whereas President Trump has not empaneled a commission to investigate Russian
interference with the 2016 United States Presidential election, but has
empaneled a commission to investigate unfounded claims that there were
as many as 5,000,000 fraudulent votes in the United States Presidential
election, which President Trump has claimed cost him the popular vote;
Whereas, on June 29, 2017, the United States Senate passed S. 722, the
Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017, which included
sanctions on Russia, by a vote of 98-2;
Whereas President Trump's administration has sought changes to S. 722 to make it
more friendly to Russia;
Whereas, on June 1, 2017, President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate
Agreement, a historic pact among nearly 200 parties, including Russia
and China, to reduce emissions that raise global temperatures, put lives
and property at risk, and imperil the planet upon which we live, and,
Syria and Nicaragua were the only nations that did not sign the Paris
Agreement, and Nicaragua objected because it felt the agreement did not
go far enough;
Whereas 97 percent of climate scientists agree that human activity has impacted
climate change;
Whereas, on May 28, 2017, after transatlantic meetings, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel concluded that President Trump was not the kind of traditionally
reliable partner for Germany and Europe on whom they have been able to
depend in the past, saying that traditional alliances were no longer as
steadfast. Merkel stated that Europe should, ``really take our fate into
our own hands . . .'' and said, ``The times in which we could rely fully
on others--they are somewhat over.'';
Whereas President Trump's opposition to the Paris Climate Agreement put the
United States at odds on climate change with the rest of the G-20 at its
July 2017 meeting in Hamburg, Germany;
Whereas President Trump failed to secure an international agreement at the July
2017 G-20 meeting to counter the threat posed by a nuclear-armed North
Korea;
Whereas President Trump's first cabinet appointments had the smallest percentage
of women and nonwhites combined than any since President Reagan;
Whereas the gender pay gap at President Trump's White House is more than double
the national pay gap;
Whereas, on January 21, 2017, President Trump's spokesperson said, ``Photographs
of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one
particular Tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on
the National Mall . . . That was the largest audience to witness an
inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.'';
Whereas in support of his assertion about the inaugural crowd size, President
Trump's spokesperson said, ``We know that 420,000 people used DC Metro
public transit yesterday, which compares to 317,000 that it used for
President Obama's last inaugural'', but transit officials said that
570,557 riders used the transit system on January 20, 2017, as compared
with 1.1 million trips the day of President Obama's first inauguration
and 782,000 trips the day of President Obama's second inauguration;
Whereas, on February 16, 2017, President Trump said his 2016 election victory
was, ``the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan'';
Whereas Donald J. Trump received 304 electoral votes in 2016;
Whereas Barrack Obama received 332 electoral votes in 2012, and 365 electoral
votes in 2008;
Whereas Bill Clinton received 379 electoral votes in 1996, and 370 electoral
votes in 1992;
Whereas George H. W. Bush received 426 electoral votes in 1988; and
Whereas when President Trump was presented with facts about the size of his
predecessors' electoral victory margins at a press conference on
February 16, 2017, he responded, ``I don't know, I was given that
information. I actually, I've seen that information around.'': Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) based on the conduct described in the preamble, the
House of Representatives has no confidence that President Trump
is faithfully executing the office of President of the United
States; and
(2) President Trump should--
(A) release his tax returns;
(B) place his private business assets in a blind
trust or to divest from them;
(C) donate to the United States Treasury, as he
promised, any personal profit he has made from foreign
patronage of hotels in which he has an ownership
interest;
(D) refrain from taking any action that results in
taxpayer money being spent on goods or services from
businesses in which he has an ownership interest, such
as Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, the Trump
National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the
Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia;
(E) seek congressional consent for any and all
emoluments he has received from foreign countries;
(F) refrain from using Twitter inappropriately,
including refraining from posting comments that could
adversely impact United States foreign policy;
(G) support the First Amendment, support freedom of
the press, refrain from calling reporting ``fake
news'', refrain from posting video of himself wrestling
with a press logo, and stop limiting full electronic
press access to White House press briefings;
(H) promote democracy, freedom of the press, and
human rights in foreign policy;
(I) unequivocally acknowledge that Russia
interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential
election, and work to protect our electoral process
from any future foreign interference;
(J) refuse any offer to form any kind of
cybersecurity unit with the Russian Government to
purportedly protect the United States from election
hacking;
(K) respect the independence of our Nation's
judicial branch;
(L) respect Members of Congress and refrain from
using derogatory nicknames for them; and
(M) conduct United States foreign policy in a
manner that reflects the United States traditional role
as leader of the free world.
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