[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1186 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1186
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President
Donald Trump, his Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, and all Federal
officials must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the
Constitution by immediately turning over to the Department of the
Treasury any payments received from the United Arab Emirates or any
other foreign state and divest from all business interests linked to
foreign governments.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 16, 2026
Mr. Raskin (for himself, Ms. Balint, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr.
Castro of Texas, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Correa, Ms. Crockett, Ms. Dean of
Pennsylvania, Ms. Dexter, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr.
Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr.
Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McCollum, Mr.
Mfume, Mr. Min, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Ms. Pingree, Ms.
Ross, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Tlaib, and Mrs. Watson Coleman) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President
Donald Trump, his Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, and all Federal
officials must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the
Constitution by immediately turning over to the Department of the
Treasury any payments received from the United Arab Emirates or any
other foreign state and divest from all business interests linked to
foreign governments.
Whereas article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States Constitution (known
as the ``Foreign Emoluments Clause'') provides that ``[N]o Person
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], 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 the Office of the President of the United States is an ``Office of
Profit or Trust under [the United States]'' and Steven Witkoff, as
United States Special Envoy to the Middle East also holds an ``Office of
Profit or Trust under [the United States]'';
Whereas the purpose of the Foreign Emoluments Clause is to guarantee that our
Government officials will have an undivided fiduciary allegiance to the
American people and no foreign powers;
Whereas George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address to the Nation, restated
the Framers' organizing axiom of complete personal and financial loyalty
to the American Nation for all American public servants when he warned,
``Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence...the jealousy of a
free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience
prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of
republican government.'';
Whereas President Trump has previously admitted that his foreign business
interests presented a ``little conflict of interest'';
Whereas, on September 16, 2024, during the 2024 Presidential campaign, Donald
Trump and Steven Witkoff launched World Liberty Financial, a
cryptocurrency platform;
Whereas Donald Trump and Steven Witkoff are still listed under the corporate
leadership of World Liberty Financial as ``Co-Founders Emeritus'' along
with their children Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, Zach
Witkoff, and Alex Witkoff, several of whom serve as company officers;
Whereas, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, 4 days before
President Trump was sworn into office, Eric Trump signed a secret deal
with an investment firm owned, in part, by the United Arab Emirates,
directly selling the firm a nearly 50-percent stake in World Liberty
Financial in exchange for a payment of $500,000,000 to be paid over a
period of months extending into President Trump's term of office;
Whereas this $500,000,000 deal was funded, in substantial part, by ``spy
sheikh'' Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is a member of one of the
United Arab Emirates royal families and serves as both Deputy Ruler of
Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor, and is
also the leader of MGX Fund Management Limited, the largest sovereign
wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates;
Whereas the $500,000,000 payment was funneled through apparent shell entities
intended to mask the central involvement of Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas the payment of any portion of the $500,000,000 to President Trump after
he entered office on January 20, 2025, or to Steven Witkoff after he was
appointed a Special Envoy, would plainly constitute a forbidden
emolument within the meaning of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and any
payment of any portion in expectation of favors from a prospective Trump
Presidency would also come under the constitutional prohibition;
Whereas the United Arab Emirates, at Sheikh Tahnoon's initiative, has sought to
become a leader in artificial intelligence, and is actively seeking to
obtain access to semiconductor chips made in the United States;
Whereas, following this secret deal, and despite significant bipartisan concerns
that advanced artificial intelligence-related technology might fall into
the hands of the Chinese Government through its ties to the United Arab
Emirates, the Trump administration has taken a series of steps that have
advanced the objective of the United Arab Emirates of receiving
semiconductor chips in the United States, while the Trump and Witkoff
families have collected giant monetary payments to themselves, through
World Liberty Financial, from Shiekh Tahnoon's business interests;
Whereas, on President Trump's first day in office of his second term and 5 days
after the secret deal was entered into with World Liberty Financial, the
President announced plans for a $500,000,000,000, artificial
intelligence-focused data center venture in which Shiekh Tahnoon's MGX
Fund was named as an investor;
Whereas, on May 15, 2025, the Trump administration committed to providing
annually around 500,000 of the most advanced American semiconductor
chips to the United Arab Emirates, with approximately one-fifth of those
chips going to an entity controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas, as a result of the secret deal to sell an ownership stake in World
Liberty Financial to investment funds backed by Sheikh Tahnoon, separate
entities owned by the Trump and Witkoff families received immediate
payoffs of $187,000,000 and $31,000,000, respectively;
Whereas, following this secret deal, on November 19, 2025, the Department of
Commerce authorized the export of 35,000 advanced American semiconductor
chips to an entity controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas President Trump and Special Envoy Witkoff accepted a foreign emolument
without the consent of Congress as required by the Constitution;
Whereas the terms, timing, and astonishing size of the investment create the
inescapable inference that the United States Government took
extraordinarily swift actions to grant companies in the United Arab
Emirates access to semiconductor chips because of President Trump's
personal business dealings with investment entities financially backed
by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas President Trump's acceptance of foreign emoluments through his business
relationships with investment funds financially backed by a member of
the Government of the United Arab Emirates presents an egregious
conflict of interest and grave risks to the national security of the
United States, precisely the kind our Framers worked to avoid by
building the Foreign Emoluments Clause into the Constitution; and
Whereas neither President Trump nor Special Envoy Witkoff has sought, much less
received, the constitutionally required permission from Congress to
accept these massive foreign emoluments: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
President Trump, Special Envoy Witkoff, and all Federal officials must
comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause by immediately turning over
to the Department of the Treasury any payments received directly or
indirectly from the United Arab Emirates, their leadership, or any
member of their royal families, or any other foreign state, and divest
from all business interests with ties to foreign governments, including
MGX Fund and any other investment fund or business entity linked to
Sheikh Tahnoon or other officials of the Government of the United Arab
Emirates.
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