[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3587 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3587

To provide for the collection and assessment of intelligence regarding 
 the efforts of foreign powers to gain influence through the financial 
 interests of the President and close family members and associates of 
                             the President.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2017

  Mr. Gomez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
               Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the collection and assessment of intelligence regarding 
 the efforts of foreign powers to gain influence through the financial 
 interests of the President and close family members and associates of 
                             the President.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Battling Russian Intelligence 
Baiting Efforts Act of 2017'' or the ``BRIBE Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. COLLECTION AND ASSESSMENT OF INTELLIGENCE REGARDING THE EFFORTS 
              OF FOREIGN POWERS TO GAIN INFLUENCE THROUGH THE FINANCIAL 
              INTERESTS OF THE PRESIDENT AND CLOSE FAMILY MEMBERS AND 
              ASSOCIATES OF THE PRESIDENT.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States 
        Constitution (commonly known as the ``Emoluments Clause'') 
        prohibits acceptance of gifts by the President from a foreign 
        state.
            (2) The purpose of the emoluments clause is to prevent 
        foreign corruption of the workings of the United States 
        Government.
            (3) Pursuant to a 2009 opinion by the Office of Legal 
        Counsel, corporations owned or controlled by a foreign 
        government are presumptively foreign states under the 
        Emoluments Clause.
            (4) President Donald J. Trump maintains 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.
            (5) The Office of Government Ethics has expressed concerns 
        regarding ongoing conflicts of interest between President Trump 
        and his business concerns and intermingling of the Trump 
        Organization and the work of Government. Examples of potential 
        Trump conflicts include the following:
                    (A) President Trump received long sought trademarks 
                for the Trump Organization by the Chinese government 
                the day after reversing his position on the ``one-
                China'' policy.
                    (B) Saudi Arabia, as the Wall Street Journal 
                recently reported, spent $270,000 at the Trump Hotel in 
                Washington, DC, as part of a lobbying effort to roll 
                back legislation that allows family members of 9/11 
                attack victims to sue the Saudi government.
                    (C) During the transition, Jared Kushner, the 
                President's son-in-law and White House senior adviser, 
                met with Sergey N. Gorkov, chief of Vnesheconombank 
                (VEB), in what the White House described as part of 
                routine diplomatic encounters. Gorkov's bank has been 
                used as a frequent cover for Russian intelligence 
                service operatives, and Gorkov indicated that he met 
                with Kushner in Kushner's capacity as the chief 
                executive of Kushner Companies.
                    (D) In February, in its first major real estate 
                transaction after Trump's inauguration, the Trump 
                Organization sold a $15,800,000 penthouse apartment in 
                Trump Tower to Chinese-American business executive Xiao 
                Yan Chen, who has been directly linked to a front group 
                for Chinese military intelligence through the 
                misleadingly innocuous-sounding China Arts Foundation.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) President Trump's foreign interests and his 
        unwillingness to divest his holdings creates a possibility of 
        foreign corruption, exactly the purpose of the emoluments 
        clause;
            (2) foreign governments appear to be calculating that 
        directing money and favorable treatment toward projects, 
        properties, and interests affiliated with President Trump and 
        Jared Kushner is an easy way to secure foreign policy gains; 
        and
            (3) President Trump's foreign entanglements, to the extent 
        they enhance possibility of foreign corruption, constitute a 
        national security challenge to the United States.
    (c) Collection and Assessment of Intelligence Regarding Foreign 
Powers Influence Relating to Financial Interests of Covered Persons.--
            (1) In general.--Pursuant to title V of the National 
        Security Act of 1947, the intelligence community is authorized 
        to collect and, as appropriate, disseminate intelligence 
        regarding efforts by a foreign power to influence, or to take 
        any actions as a result of, a financial interest of a covered 
        person. Such actions include, but are not limited to, the 
        following:
                    (A) Granting favorable treatment to a covered 
                business or organization as a means to curry favor with 
                the administration.
                    (B) Granting of trademarks or other benefits to 
                members of the President's family.
                    (C) Giving a covered business or organization 
                favorable regulatory or other preferential treatment.
                    (D) Renting or buying properties owned or operated 
                by a covered business or organization.
                    (E) Investing in concerns operated by a covered 
                business or organization.
                    (F) Lending money to or otherwise facilitating 
                financial transactions on behalf of a covered business 
                or organization.
            (2) Intelligence assessments.--Not later than 30 days after 
        receipt of intelligence, the Director of National Intelligence 
        shall assess whether a foreign power is attempting to 
        influence, or to take any actions as a result of, a financial 
        interest of a covered person.
            (3) Congressional notification requirements.--
                    (A) Notification of intelligence assessments.--Not 
                later than 10 days after making an assessment under 
                paragraph (2), the Director of National Intelligence 
                shall submit to the congressional intelligence 
                committees a report on the assessment made, including 
                the specific intelligence upon which the assessment is 
                based.
                    (B) Notice of previously collected intelligence.--
                The Director of National Intelligence shall make 
                available to the congressional intelligence committees 
                any intelligence obtained during the period beginning 
                on January 19, 2017, and ending on the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, indicating that a foreign power 
                or foreign interest provided to a covered business or 
                organization favorable regulatory or other preferential 
                treatment or provided an emolument as a means to curry 
                favor.
            (4) Deadline for implementing guidelines.--Not later than 
        30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
        Director of National Intelligence shall issue guidelines to the 
        intelligence community regarding the collection of intelligence 
        described in this subsection.
            (5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    (A) The term ``covered person'' means--
                            (i) the President;
                            (ii) the Vice President;
                            (iii) a child of the President or Vice 
                        President; or
                            (iv) a close relative of the President or 
                        Vice President, including an in-law.
                    (B) The term ``covered business or organization'' 
                means--
                            (i) the Trump Organization; or
                            (ii) an organization or business controlled 
                        by or associated (including known shell 
                        companies) with a covered person, any member of 
                        the President's family, or any close associate 
                        of the President.
                    (C) The term ``financial interest'' means a 
                financial interest of the President, the Vice 
                President, the spouse of the President or Vice 
                President, or a minor child of the President or Vice 
                President, as applicable, that--
                            (i) would constitute a financial interest 
                        described in subsection (a) of section 208 of 
                        title 18, United States Code--
                                    (I) if--
                                            (aa) for purposes of such 
                                        section 208, the terms 
                                        ``officer'' and ``employee'' 
                                        included the President and the 
                                        Vice President; and
                                            (bb) the President or Vice 
                                        President, as applicable, 
                                        participated as described in 
                                        subsection (a) of such section 
                                        208 in relation to such 
                                        financial interest; and
                                    (II) determined without regard to 
                                any exception under subsection (b) of 
                                such section 208; or
                            (ii) may constitute a present, emolument, 
                        office, or title, of any kind whatever, from 
                        any king, prince, or foreign state (including 
                        from an entity owned or controlled by a foreign 
                        government), within the meaning of article I, 
                        section 9 of the Constitution of the United 
                        States.
                    (D) The term ``intelligence community'' has the 
                meaning given such term in section 3(4) of the National 
                Security Act of 1947 ( 50 U.S.C. 3003).
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