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.....................................................................
(Original Signature of Member)

115TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. RES. ll

Directing certain officials of the executive branch to provide information
to the House of Representatives that will enable the House to meet
its constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive
branch by investigating potential conflicts of interests of President Donald J. Trump.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Ml. llllll submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on lllllllllllllll

RESOLUTION
Directing certain officials of the executive branch to provide
information to the House of Representatives that will
enable the House to meet its constitutional responsibility
to conduct oversight of the executive branch by investigating potential conflicts of interests of President Donald J. Trump.
Whereas on October 18, 2016, then-candidate Donald J.
Trump communicated via Twitter: ‘‘I will Make Our Government Honest Again—believe me. But first, I’m going
to have to #DrainTheSwamp in DC’’;

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Whereas President Trump subsequently nominated a team of
wealthy and connected insiders to lead his Cabinet, many
of whom have been forced to withdraw from consideration
because of irrevocable conflicts of interest;
Whereas as President-Elect, President Trump announced
that he would be ‘‘leaving [his] great business’’ to his
adult children, a move he felt would be ‘‘visually important’’;
Whereas President Trump has taken no steps to untangle his
financial interest in his business holdings, to limit his
ability to advise the nominal managers of the Trump Organization, or to prevent other interests from currying
favor with the White House by doing business with companies that might benefit the President’s bottom line;
Whereas President Trump has reversed White House policy
and now refuses to release visitor logs to the public;
Whereas on May 30, 2014, President Trump stated: ‘‘If I decide to run for office, I’ll produce my tax returns, absolutely’’;
Whereas on January 24, 2016, President Trump stated that
he would release his ‘‘very big returns . . . in the next
period of time’’;
Whereas on February 25, 2016, President Trump changed
his position and stated that, although he could not release his tax returns while under audit, he would do so
‘‘as soon as the audit is done’’;
Whereas on May 11, 2016, President Trump communicated
via Twitter: ‘‘In interview I told @AP that my taxes are
under routine audit and I would release my tax returns
when audit is complete, not after election!’’;

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Whereas on January 22, 2017, White House senior adviser
Kellyanne Conway stated that ‘‘the White House response is that he’s not going to release his returns’’;
Whereas President Trump has directed the Congress to act
on comprehensive reform of the Internal Revenue Code;
Whereas without the President’s tax returns, the public cannot know how the full extent to which any proposed reforms will personally benefit the President;
Whereas on January 11, 2017, President Trump insisted
that he has ‘‘no dealings with Russia’’;
Whereas it has been widely reported that President Trump
sought and received funding from Russian investors, especially when American banks stopped lending to him
after his multiple bankruptcies;
Whereas Donald Trump Jr., who runs day-to-day business
operations for his father’s companies, has stated: ‘‘Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of
a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in
from Russia’’;
Whereas on March 20, 2017, James B. Comey, Director of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed the existence of a Federal investigation into multiple connections
between the Trump campaign and the regime of Russian
President Vladimir Putin;
Whereas it has been reported that President Trump has personally guaranteed over $300,000,000 in loans to German financial institution Deutsche Bank AG;
Whereas the Trump Administration is now responsible for
overseeing multiple investigations into the trading and
lending practices of Deutsche Bank AG, and for negotiG:\VHLC\042617\042617.280.xml
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ating a potentially multibillion-dollar settlement with the
bank related to its trading of mortgage-backed securities;
Whereas these matters represent only a few of the many instances in which President Trump has broken his promise to ‘‘drain the swamp’’;
Whereas under the Constitution of the United States, Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch;
Whereas the majority of the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform of the House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the Committee’s oversight plan
that would have tasked the Committee with investigating
the President’s conflicts of interest;
Whereas Members of the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, the Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives have each advanced resolutions of inquiry designed
to obtain information about the President’s ongoing conflicts of interest;
Whereas the majority has blocked each of those resolutions
from consideration on the House floor;
Whereas the continuing refusal of the majority to conduct
even basic oversight of the Trump Administration diminishes the status of the Congress as a co-equal branch of
Government; and
Whereas this continued neglect undermines the credibility of
the House of Representatives and raises a question of the
privileges of the House; Now, therefore, be it
1

Resolved, That the House of Representatives directs

2 the following persons to take the following actions:
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1

(1) President Trump is directed to transmit to

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the House of Representatives copies of any docu-

3

ment, record, memorandum, correspondence, or

4

other communication in possession of the Executive

5

Office of the President, or any portion of such com-

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munication, that refers or relates to President

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Trump’s proposal to maintain an interest in his

8

business holdings, while turning over day-to-day op-

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eration of those interests to his sons Donald J.

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Trump, Jr., and Eric Trump.

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(2) In support of transparency in government

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and the longstanding tradition of the disclosure of

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tax returns of Presidents and Presidential can-

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didates, the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to

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provide the Committee on Ways and Means with the

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tax return information of Donald J. Trump for tax

17

years 2007 through 2016 for review in closed execu-

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tive session by the Committee as provided under sec-

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tion 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,

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and directs the Committee to hold a vote on report-

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ing such information to the full House of Represent-

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atives.

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(3) The Director of the Office on Government

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Ethics is directed to publish any waiver or exception

25

granted to any officer or employee of the govern-

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1

ment to the January 28, 2017, executive order enti-

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tled ‘‘Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Ap-

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pointees’’.

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(4) The Administrator of General Services is di-

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rected to provide the Committee on Oversight and

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Government Reform of the House of Representatives

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with any legal analysis supporting its March 23,

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2017, conclusion that Trump International Hotel in

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Washington may maintain its lease with the Federal

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Government, despite an express prohibition on elect-

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ed officials taking part in the lease.

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(5) President Trump is directed to provide vis-

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itor logs for both the White House and Mar-A-Lago

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to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-

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form of the House of Representatives on a rolling

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and ongoing basis, and directs the Committee to

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hold ongoing votes on reporting the contents of such

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visitor logs to the full House of Representatives.

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