[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 15 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 15
Calling upon any agreement reached between the President and Vladimir
Putin at their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to be approved by
Congress.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 3, 2019
Ms. Jackson Lee submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling upon any agreement reached between the President and Vladimir
Putin at their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to be approved by
Congress.
Whereas the strength of the American constitutional system designed in 1787 in
Philadelphia is the National Government's separated powers in which the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches serve as checks and
counterbalances on each other, and fidelity to the rule of law is the
highest value and responsibility;
Whereas United States intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was
behind an effort to tip the scale of the United States Presidential
election against Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with
a state-authorized campaign of cyberattacks and fake news stories
planted on social media;
Whereas, in late July 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an
investigation into the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's
emails, which the United States intelligence community would attribute
to the Russian Government;
Whereas an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) issued in January 2017
concluded that Russian efforts to influence the 2016 United States
Presidential election represented the most recent expression of the
Russian government's longstanding objective to undermine the United
States-led Western Alliance and international democratic order, and that
these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in directness,
level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous operations;
Whereas the ICA assessed that Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin
ordered a disinformation campaign in 2016 aimed at influencing the
outcome of the United States Presidential election and that Russia's
goals were to undermine public faith in the United States democratic
process, undermine the Presidential campaign of Democratic candidate
Hillary Clinton, and facilitate the election of President Putin's
preferred candidate, Donald J. Trump;
Whereas Russian interference in the election processes of democratic countries
is not new but instead a continuation of the ``Translator Project'', an
ongoing information warfare effort launched by Russian Federation
President Putin in 2014 to use social media to manipulate public opinion
and voters in Western democracies;
Whereas, on July 27, 2016, Russian military intelligence agents made their first
effort to break into the servers used by Mrs. Clinton's personal office,
a burglary occurring immediately following then-Republican Presidential
nominee Donald J. Trump's direct appeal to Russia to hack the Clinton
campaign's servers, saying, ``Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're
able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,'' referring to
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails;
Whereas the Department of Justice investigation led by Special Counsel Robert
Mueller into the Russian conspiracy to defraud the United States by
sabotaging the 2016 Presidential election is still ongoing;
Whereas at least 12 Trump campaign officials and associates had contacts with
Russians during the campaign or transition, with at least 19 face-to-
face interactions with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures and at least
51 individual communications;
Whereas senior Trump campaign officials known to have had contact with Russians
include the President's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, his son
Donald J. Trump, Jr., former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn,
Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and Trump National
Campaign Chairman Paul D. Manafort;
Whereas the Special Counsel has, to date, indicted 32 persons, including 4 Trump
campaign or administration officials, as well as 25 Russian nationals
and 3 Russian companies;
Whereas the Special Counsel has obtained indictments against Trump Campaign
National Chairman Paul D. Manafort, Deputy Campaign Chairman and
Manafort business partner Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Trump campaign
official and the first National Security Advisor to the President of the
United States, George Papadopoulos, Trump campaign foreign policy
adviser, Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who lied to the FBI about his
dealings with Rick Gates and was jailed for 30 days, Richard Pinedo, who
has pleaded guilty to identity thefts to facilitate the Russian
conspiracy, and Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national and business
associate of Paul D. Manafort;
Whereas, on February 16, 2018, 13 Russian nationals connected to the Internet
Research Agency (IRA), a Russian ``troll factory'', including Yevgeny
Prigozhin, an associate of Vladimir Putin, were indicted for conspiracy
to defraud the United States by spreading fake news stories through
United States social media;
Whereas, on July 13, 2018, 12 Russian military intelligence officers were
charged with hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton
Presidential campaign, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee using spear phishing emails and malicious software;
Whereas Maria Butina, a Russian national, was indicted for unlawfully acting as
an unregistered agent of a foreign government, for working under the
direction of Alexander Torchin in furtherance of a plan backed by the
Russian Foreign Ministry to co-opt influential leaders of the Republican
Party and conservative organizations like the National Rifle Association
and the Fellowship Foundation, which hosts the National Prayer
Breakfast;
Whereas the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint alert in
March of 2018 stating that ``Russian government cyber actors'' have been
targeting United States critical infrastructure sectors, including
energy, nuclear, and commercial facilities, since at least March 2016;
Whereas the Russian government is known to have targeted the same critical
infrastructure sectors of Ukraine shortly before interfering in the
elections of that nation;
Whereas in addition to the Justice Department investigation led by Special
Counsel Mueller, there are three pending congressional investigations
probing Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election;
Whereas, on July 21, 2017, The Washington Post reported that lawyers
representing the President of the United States are exploring ways to
limit or undercut Special Counsel Mueller's Russia investigation and
that the President himself had ``asked his advisers about his power to
pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the
probe'';
Whereas at the meeting in Helsinki, Finland, rather than embracing the
conclusions of the intelligence community, the President of the United
States sided with President Putin in heaping scorn on the ICA regarding
Russian interference and called Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation into Russia's interference ``the greatest political witch
hunt in history'';
Whereas at their postmeeting joint press conference in Helsinki, President Putin
stated that in order for him to permit the Special Counsel to question
the 12 Russian military intelligence agents indicted for conspiracy to
defraud the United States, the United States must reciprocate by making
available for interrogation by Russian authorities a former United
States Ambassador to Russia and 11 other persons, an offensive
suggestion that the President of the United States nonetheless
characterized favorably as an ``incredible offer'';
Whereas prior to the July 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Finland, Americans have
become increasingly concerned regarding the cozy relationship between
the President of the United States and the leader of its most formidable
adversary, President Putin, whose actions or conduct the President of
the United States has found no reason to criticize or condemn,
notwithstanding his well-documented propensity to attack, criticize, and
disrespect other persons at will, from the leaders of America's most
stalwart allies to private citizens he dislikes;
Whereas Trump and Putin agreed to meet again following the meeting in Helsinki,
with Trump ultimately inviting Putin to the White House in the fall;
Whereas the nature, extent, and scope of the agreements reached in the Trump-
Putin secret meeting held in Helsinki announced by Russian authorities
remain unknown to senior United States national security and defense
officials, including the Director of National Intelligence;
Whereas the President of the United States has blamed tensions with Russia on
``many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity,'' stating that the
United States relationship with Russia ``has NEVER been worse''--
including periods like the Cuban missile crisis, and the wars in Korea
and Vietnam;
Whereas following the meeting in Helsinki, Russia's ambassador to the United
States, Anatoly Antonov, stated that ``important verbal agreements''
were reached between the President of the United States and the
President of the Russian Federation;
Whereas such purported agreements include the preservation of the New START and
INF agreements and major bilateral arms control treaties;
Whereas according to media reports the President of the United States did not
raise with President Putin the causes contributing to United States-
Russia tension, including Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for
the rebels in Ukraine, its continued support of the Assad regime in
Syria, its interference in the elections in the United States and
Europe, the nerve agent poisonings in the United Kingdom, and Russia's
opposition to article V of the North Atlantic Treaty;
Whereas Russia is claiming that it is has reached agreements with the President
of the United States that favor the Kremlin's interests without any
disputation or confirmation from the President of the United States to
his national security advisors, the Congress, or the American people;
and
Whereas to protect the vital interests of the United States, any agreements
reached in Helsinki between the President of the United States and the
Russian Federation President in their secret meeting in Helsinki must be
subjected to congressional scrutiny and approval: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) strongly disapproves of the President's failure to
support the assessment of the intelligence community that
agents and entities of or allied with the Government of the
Russian Federation conspired to interfere, and did interfere,
with the 2016 Presidential election, acting under the direction
and with the approval of President Vladimir Putin, for the
purpose of facilitating the election of their preferred
Presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump;
(2) strongly opposes any future secret meetings between the
President of the United States and Russian President Vladimir
Putin; and
(3) calls upon the President to submit any agreement
reached with Russian President Putin in Helsinki to the
Congress for review and approval.
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