[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 178 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 178

 Clarifying any potential misunderstanding as to whether actions taken 
     by President-elect Donald Trump constitute a violation of the 
 Emoluments Clause, and calling on President-elect Trump to divest his 
  interest in, and sever his relationship to, the Trump Organization.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 1, 2016

  Mr. Welch submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
      referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Clarifying any potential misunderstanding as to whether actions taken 
     by President-elect Donald Trump constitute a violation of the 
 Emoluments Clause, and calling on President-elect Trump to divest his 
  interest in, and sever his relationship to, the Trump Organization.

Whereas article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States Constitution 
        (commonly known as the ``Emoluments Clause'') declares, ``No title of 
        Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding 
        any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of 
        the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any 
        kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'';
Whereas, according to the remarks of Governor Edmund Randolph at the 1787 
        Constitutional Convention, the Emoluments Clause ``was thought proper, 
        in order to exclude corruption and foreign influence, to prohibit any 
        one in office from receiving or holding any emoluments from foreign 
        states'';
Whereas the issue of foreign corruption greatly concerned the Founding Fathers 
        of the United States, such that Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 22 
        wrote, ``In republics, persons elevated from the mass of the community, 
        by the suffrages of their fellow-citizens, to stations of great pre-
        eminence and power, may find compensations for betraying their trust, 
        which, to any but minds animated and guided by superior virtue, may 
        appear to exceed the proportion of interest they have in the common 
        stock, and to overbalance the obligations of duty. Hence it is that 
        history furnishes us with so many mortifying examples of the prevalency 
        of foreign corruption in republican governments.'';
Whereas the President of the United States is the head of the executive branch 
        of the Federal Government and is expected to have undivided loyalty to 
        the United States, and clearly occupies an ``office of profit or trust'' 
        within the meaning of article I, section 9, clause 8 of the 
        Constitution, according to the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department 
        of Justice;
Whereas the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice opined in 2009 
        that corporations owned or controlled by a foreign government are 
        presumptively foreign states under the Emoluments Clause;
Whereas President-elect Donald J. Trump has a business network, the Trump 
        Organization, that has financial interests around the world and 
        negotiates and concludes transactions with foreign states and entities 
        that are extensions of foreign states;
Whereas Michael Cohen, an attorney for Donald J. Trump and the Trump 
        Organization, has stated that the Trump Organization would be placed 
        into a ``blind trust'' managed by Donald Trump's children, Donald Trump, 
        Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump;
Whereas the very nature of a ``blind trust'' is such that the official will have 
        no control over, will receive no communications about, and will have no 
        knowledge of the identity of the specific assets held in the trust, and 
        that the manager of the trust is independent of the owner, and as such 
        the arrangement proposed by Mr. Cohen is not a blind trust;
Whereas Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and 
        George W. Bush have set the precedent of using true blind trusts, in 
        which their holdings were liquidated and placed in new investments 
        unknown to them by an independent trustee who managed them free of 
        familial bias;
Whereas the intermingling of the business of the Trump Organization and the work 
        of government has the potential to constitute the foreign corruption so 
        feared by the Founding Fathers and betray the trust of America's 
        citizens;
Whereas the intent of this resolution is to prevent any potential 
        misunderstanding or crisis with regards to whether the actions of Donald 
        J. Trump as President of the United States will violate the Emoluments 
        Clause of the Constitution, Federal law, or fundamental principles of 
        ethics; and
Whereas Congress has an institutional, constitutional obligation to ensure that 
        the President of the United States does not violate the Emoluments 
        Clause and is discharging the obligations of office based on the 
        national interest, not based on personal interest: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) calls upon President-elect Donald J. Trump to follow 
        the precedent established by prior presidents and convert his 
        assets to simple, conflict-free holdings, adopt blind trusts 
        managed by an independent trustee with no relationship to 
        Donald J. Trump or his businesses, or take other equivalent 
        measures, in order to ensure compliance with the Emoluments 
        Clause of the United States Constitution;
            (2) calls upon President-elect Donald J. Trump not to use 
        the powers or opportunities of his position as President-elect 
        or President of the United States for any purpose related to 
        the Trump Organization; and
            (3) regards, in the absence of such actions outlined in 
        paragraph (1) or specific authorization by Congress, dealings 
        that Donald J. Trump, as President of the United States, may 
        have through his companies with foreign governments or entities 
        owned or controlled by foreign governments as potential 
        violations of the Emoluments Clause.
                                 <all>