[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 682 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 682
Expressing the sense of the Senate by condemning the handling of the
2019 Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint, calling for the Department of
Justice to initiate an investigation and prosecution of the matter, and
declaring the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump by the House of
Representatives lacks legitimacy.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 20, 2026
Mr. Scott of Florida submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate by condemning the handling of the
2019 Ukraine Whistleblower Complaint, calling for the Department of
Justice to initiate an investigation and prosecution of the matter, and
declaring the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump by the House of
Representatives lacks legitimacy.
Whereas, on April 13, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
declassified and released documents and transcripts revealing serious
procedural failures and concealments in the handling of the August 2019
whistleblower complaint regarding President Trump's July 25, 2019,
telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky;
Whereas the complaint, which was filed by an analyst of the Central Intelligence
Agency who had no firsthand knowledge of the aforementioned telephone
call, relied entirely on second- and third-hand accounts, with key
witnesses admitting the alleged quid pro quo was ``clear only in
hindsight'' and required ``reading between the lines'';
Whereas, although the whistleblower self-disclosed significant potential biases,
including registration as a member of the Democratic Party, close
professional work with then-Vice President Joe Biden on Ukraine matters
(including travel to Ukraine with Vice President Biden and participation
in discussions on Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko's
corruption), and personal grievances stemming from his service on the
National Security Council during the first Trump presidency, former
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson
redacted or concealed these deeper conflicts from investigators from the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of
Representatives during his testimony on 2019 in which he disclosed only
limited information;
Whereas the whistleblower admitted to misleading investigators about prior
contacts with Democratic staff of the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence of the House of Representatives and requested that the
complaint be hidden from Republican members of the committee;
Whereas, in 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden publicly boasted of withholding
$1,000,000,000 in United States loan guarantees to pressure Ukraine into
firing Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, an action that occurred while
Biden's son Hunter served on the board of Burisma Holdings, raising
legitimate questions about potential conflicts of interest that the
whistleblower's complaint sought to shield from scrutiny;
Whereas these concealed biases, procedural irregularities, and reliance on
unsubstantiated claims formed the very basis of the 2019 impeachment
proceedings, which resulted in the impeachment of President Trump by the
House of Representatives on December 18, 2019: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns the concealment of material bias information
and the use of a flawed complaint to initiate impeachment
proceedings against a sitting President;
(2) calls upon the Department of Justice to promptly
initiate a thorough, independent investigation into the
handling of the 2019 Ukraine whistleblower complaint, including
potential violations related to false statements, improper
redactions, abuse of the whistleblower process, and
coordination with congressional staff;
(3) urges the Attorney General to pursue appropriate
criminal prosecutions to the extent warranted by the evidence,
consistent with the rule of law and without regard to political
affiliation, to restore public confidence in the integrity of
the intelligence community and congressional oversight;
(4) declares that the 2019 impeachment of President Donald
J. Trump by the House of Representatives, which was predicated
on a concealed and deficient complaint, lacks legitimacy and
the facts and circumstances upon which Articles of Impeachment
were based neither met the burden of proving that President
Trump committed ``high Crimes and Misdemeanors'' nor
established that President Trump engaged in ``insurrection of
rebellion against the United States''; and
(5) commends Director of National Intelligence Tulsi
Gabbard for her transparency and accountability in
declassifying these materials and sharing the truth with the
American people.
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