McLarenblog

115TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. ll

Objecting to the conduct of the President of the United States.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. COHEN submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

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 øMr. 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 @MorninglJoe 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 . . øand¿ 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

 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2

resentatives that—

3 (1) based on the conduct described in the pre4

amble, the House of Representatives has no con5

fidence that President Trump is faithfully executing

6 the office of President of the United States; and

7 (2) President Trump should—

8 (A) release his tax returns;

9 (B) place his private business assets in a

10 blind trust or to divest from them;

11 (C) donate to the United States Treasury,

12 as he promised, any personal profit he has

13 made from foreign patronage of hotels in which

14 he has an ownership interest;

15 (D) refrain from taking any action that re16

sults in taxpayer money being spent on goods

17 or services from businesses in which he has an

18 ownership interest, such as Mar-a-Lago in Palm

19 Beach, Florida, the Trump National Golf Club

16

1 in Bedminster, New Jersey, and the Trump Na2

tional Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia;

3 (E) seek congressional consent for any and

4 all emoluments he has received from foreign

5 countries;

6 (F) refrain from using Twitter inappropri7

ately, including refraining from posting com8

ments that could adversely impact United

9 States foreign policy;

10 (G) support the First Amendment, support

11 freedom of the press, refrain from calling re12

porting ‘‘fake news’’, refrain from posting video

13 of himself wrestling with a press logo, and stop

14 limiting full electronic press access to White

15 House press briefings;

16 (H) promote democracy, freedom of the

17 press, and human rights in foreign policy;

18 (I) unequivocally acknowledge that Russia

19 interfered in the 2016 United States Presi20

dential election, and work to protect our elec21

toral process from any future foreign inter22

ference;

Source:  https://cohen.house.gov/sites/cohen.house.gov/files/documents/Resolution%20of%20No%20Confidence%20in%20Donald%20J.%20Trump.pdf

 

Published September 26,2020