[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5245-5246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE 
                        PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I 
rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges 
of the House.
  The form of the resolution is as follows:
  A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 
that President Donald Trump shall publicly disclose his tax return 
information, which would conform with an important tradition connected 
to occupancy of the White House, as well as uphold his promise to the 
American people that he would release his tax returns.
  Whereas, every President since Gerald Ford has disclosed his tax 
return information to the American people;
  Whereas, in May 2014 Donald Trump stated during a television 
interview: ``If I decide to run for office I'll produce my tax returns 
absolutely. I would love to do that'';
  Whereas, in February 2015 Donald Trump stated during a radio 
interview: ``I have no objection to certainly showing tax returns'';
  Whereas, in February 2016 Donald Trump stated during a televised 
Republican Presidential debate: ``I will absolutely give my returns, 
but I'm being audited now for two or three years, so I can't do it 
until the audit is finished, obviously'';
  Whereas, in May 2016 Donald Trump stated during a television 
interview: ``I will really gladly give them. When the audit ends, I'll 
present them. That should be before the election'';
  Whereas, the IRS has made clear that any taxpayer, including Donald 
Trump, may release his tax returns at any time while under audit;
  Whereas, the House of Representatives by constitutional design is the 
institution closest to the American people, and an overwhelming 
majority of the American people think Donald Trump should release his 
tax returns immediately;
  Whereas, 17 different intelligence agencies in the United States have 
concluded that Vladimir Putin and his Russian regime interfered with 
our Presidential election for the purpose of helping Donald Trump;
  Whereas, multiple high-level Trump associates were in regular contact 
with Russian operatives and intelligence agents during the same time 
that Russia was hacking into our democracy;
  Whereas, multiple high-level Trump associates have financial ties to 
the Russian regime;
  Whereas, Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, 
engineered a pro-Russia change in the Republican Party platform in July 
2016 and has received millions of dollars from pro-Russian oligarchs to 
advance Putin's agenda;
  Whereas, Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's first National Security 
Adviser, resigned in disgrace for misleading to Vice President Mike 
Pence about potentially unlawful phone calls to the Russian Ambassador 
and failed to disclose financial compensation received from a Russian 
propaganda media outlet closely tied to Vladimir Putin;
  Whereas, Carter Page, a top foreign policy adviser to the Trump 
campaign, has now acknowledged visiting the Kremlin in the midst of the 
2016 Presidential election;
  Whereas, Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's Attorney General, misled the 
Senate under oath by failing to disclose his meetings with the Russian 
Ambassador that took place in July 2016 at the Republican National 
Convention and again in September of 2016;
  Whereas, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal attorney, now 
acknowledges being in contact with Russian operatives at the same time 
the attacks on our democracy were taking place;
  Whereas, Jared Kushner, a senior White House advisor and Donald 
Trump's son-in-law, now acknowledges previously undisclosed meetings 
with the Russian Ambassador;
  Whereas, Roger Stone, a self-described political trickster and Donald 
Trump's long-time consigliere, now acknowledges being in contact with 
the Russian-aligned hacker Guccifer II and predicted during the 
campaign that John Podesta's emails would soon be exposed;
  Whereas, Ian Fleming, the renowned British author has observed, 
``Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy 
action'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump has shown an unrestrained willingness to 
criticize and insult allies of the United States of America;
  Whereas, Donald Trump wrongly accused Great Britain, our closest 
ally, of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York City;
  Whereas, Donald Trump declined to shake German Chancellor Angela 
Merkel's hand while seated together during their recent joint 
appearance at the White House;
  Whereas, Donald Trump stated in a recent C-PAC speech that ``Paris is 
no longer Paris'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump threatened to cancel a refugee transfer 
agreement with our ally Australia and reportedly hung up on the Prime 
Minister;
  Whereas, Donald Trump told the President of Mexico that America would 
deploy military personnel to that sovereign nation if our southern 
neighbor does not deal with its ``bad hombres'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized our strategic and 
military alliance with Western European allies and called NATO 
``obsolete'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump refuses to say a negative word about Vladimir 
Putin or his corrupt Russian regime;
  Whereas, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Donald Trump on Super Bowl Sunday 
and asked about Putin's brutal and murderous regime;
  Whereas, Donald Trump responded, ``There are a lot of killers. You 
think our country's so innocent?'', suggesting a moral equivalence 
between the United States and Russia;
  Whereas, Yogi Berra, the great Yankee catcher and philosopher-King, 
once observed ``that's too coincidental to be a coincidence'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump tweeted on January 11: ``I have nothing to do 
with Russia--no deals, no loans, no nothing'';
  Whereas, Donald Trump Jr. once stated: ``Russians make up a pretty 
disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of 
money pouring in from Russia'';
  Whereas, disclosure of Donald Trump's tax returns will help the 
American people and their elected Representatives in this House better 
understand Trump's financial ties, if any, to Putin's Russia;
  Whereas, the American people have a right to know whether financial 
conflicts of interest exist between the President of the United States 
and a hostile foreign power;
  Whereas, the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee, Joint 
Committee on Taxation, and Senate Finance Committee have the authority 
to request Donald Trump's tax returns under section 6103 of the Tax 
Code; and
  Whereas, the FBI is conducting a criminal and counterintelligence 
investigation into Russian interference with the recent Presidential 
election, including possible collusion between the Trump campaign and 
the Kremlin:
  Now, therefore, be it resolved that the House of Representatives 
shall:
  One, immediately request tax return information of Donald J. Trump 
for tax years 2007 through 2016 for review in closed executive session 
by the Committee on Ways and Means, as provided under section 6103 of 
the Internal Revenue Code, and vote to report the information therein 
to the full House of Representatives; and
  Two, postpone consideration of comprehensive tax reform legislation 
until after the elected Representatives of the American people in this 
House have been able to review Trump's tax returns and ascertain how 
any changes to the Tax Code might financially benefit the President of 
the United States.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the 
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader 
as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence 
only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after 
the resolution is properly noticed.

[[Page 5246]]

  Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the 
gentleman from New York will appear in the Record at this point.
  The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution 
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at 
the time designated for consideration of the resolution.

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