[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 4 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 4

 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 4, 2017

   Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Ms. Warren, Mr. Carper, Mrs. 
 Murray, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Reed, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Brown, Mr. 
   Casey, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Udall, Mr. Merkley, Mr. 
   Bennet, Mr. Franken, Mr. Coons, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
 Murphy, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Markey, Mr. Booker, Mr. Peters, 
Mr. Van Hollen, and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted the following concurrent 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         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, initially 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, on November 30, 2016, President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on 
        Twitter that ``I will be holding a major news conference in New York 
        City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be 
        leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus on running 
        the country in order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'';
Whereas, on December 12, 2016, President-elect Donald J. Trump abruptly canceled 
        the planned December 15, 2016, news conference, and has provided no set 
        date for a future announcement;
Whereas, on December 12, 2016, President-elect Donald J. Trump stated on 
        Twitter, ``Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be 
        leaving my busineses [sic] before January 20th so that I can focus full 
        time on the Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus 
        executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my 
        term(s) in office'';
Whereas numerous legal and constitutional experts, including several former 
        White House ethics counsels, have made clear that, notwithstanding the 
        problems inherent in temporarily ceding control of the Trump 
        Organization to his children, such an arrangement, in which the 
        President-elect fails to exit the ownership of his businesses through 
        use of a blind trust or equivalent, will leave the President-elect with 
        a personal financial interest in businesses that collect foreign 
        government payments and benefits, which raises both constitutional and 
        public interest concerns;
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 continued 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 to 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 Senate (the House of Representatives 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.
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