III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 378 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the House of Representatives should, 

consistent with long-standing practice and precedent, prior to proceeding 

any further with its impeachment investigation into President Donald 

J. Trump, vote to open a formal impeachment inquiry and provide 

President Trump with fundamental constitutional protections. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 24, 2019 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. THUNE, Mr. 

BLUNT, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. BURR, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. WICKER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. PAUL, Mr. LEE, 

Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mrs. FISCHER, Mr. CRUZ, 

Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. COTTON, Mr. DAINES, 

Mr. PERDUE, Ms. ERNST, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. 

KENNEDY, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. 

SHELBY, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. 

BRAUN, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. SASSE, Mr. TOOMEY, 

Ms. MCSALLY, and Mr. SULLIVAN) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the House of Representatives should, consistent with long-standing practice and precedent, prior to proceeding any further with 

its impeachment investigation into President Donald J. 

Trump, vote to open a formal impeachment inquiry and 

provide President Trump with fundamental constitutional 

protections. 


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•SRES 378 IS 

Whereas one of the cornerstones of the American Constitution is due process: the right to confront your accuser, 

call witnesses on your behalf, and challenge the accusations against you; 

Whereas the House of Representatives is abandoning more 

than a century’s worth of precedent and tradition in impeachment proceedings and denying President Trump 

basic fairness and due process accorded every American; 

Whereas, in our nation’s history, the House has on three occasions moved to formally investigate whether sufficient 

grounds exist to impeach a President, and in all three of 

these cases, the full House voted on a resolution authorizing the House Judiciary Committee to determine 

whether to impeach the President; 

Whereas, in the case of President Trump, a formal impeachment process involving debate and a vote by the full 

House prior to taking each step in the process has been 

replaced by a press conference by the Speaker of the 

House; 

Whereas the proposition that the Speaker acting alone may 

direct committees to initiate impeachment proceedings 

without any debate or a vote on the House floor is unprecedented and undemocratic; 

Whereas the House is denying President Trump due process 

within the ‘‘inquiry’’ itself; 

Whereas, for the impeachment investigations of President 

Richard M. Nixon and President William J. Clinton, the 

House Judiciary Committee adopted rules of procedure to 

provide due process rights and ensure fairness; 

Whereas these rights included— 


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•SRES 378 IS 

(1) allowing the President to be represented by 

counsel; 

(2) permitting the President’s counsel to be present 

at all hearings and depositions; 

(3) permitting the President’s counsel to present evidence and object to the admission of evidence; 

(4) allowing the President’s counsel to call and 

cross-examine witnesses; and 

(5) giving the President’s counsel access to, and the 

ability to respond to, the evidence adduced by the Committee; 

Whereas, by contrast, the House’s current impeachment ‘‘inquiry’’ provides none of these basic rights and protections 

to President Trump; 

Whereas the main allegations against President Trump are 

based on assertions and testimony from witnesses whom 

he is unable to confront, as part of a process in which 

he is not able to offer witnesses in his defense or have 

a basic understanding of the allegations lodged against 

him; 

Whereas all witness interviews that have been conducted thus 

far in the House have been behind closed doors with limited minority participation; 

Whereas the House’s current impeachment ‘‘inquiry’’ ignores 

the procedural rights given to the investigating committee’s minority in previous Presidential impeachments, including granting equal subpoena power to both the chair 

and ranking member of the committee; 

Whereas, the House is denying President Trump the same 

basic pre-inquiry rights afforded to President Clinton; 


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•SRES 378 IS 

Whereas the Whitewater Investigation involved nearly five 

years of painstaking investigative work by a special counsel and an independent counsel before the House even 

voted to have the Judiciary Committee open an impeachment inquiry; 

Whereas President Clinton vigorously fought that investigation, including by raising multiple privilege claims and he 

was permitted to fully litigate those claims through the 

courts; 

Whereas President Trump, by contrast, fully cooperated with 

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s investigation; 

Whereas, during the course of the Mueller investigation, 

President Trump never raised privilege claims, he turned 

over more than one million pages of documents, he directed senior aides to testify freely, including making the 

White House Counsel available to testify for more than 

thirty hours, and he agreed to answer written questions 

on penalty of perjury; and 

Whereas, rather than giving President Trump the same due 

process rights that President Clinton had to raise and 

litigate claims of constitutional privilege, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has repeatedly 

threatened to use President Trump’s assertion of his constitutional rights as evidence of obstruction and to impeach President Trump for trying to litigate those claims: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) calls on the House of Representatives, prior 

3 to proceeding any further with its impeachment inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Oct 24, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR378.IS SR378

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•SRES 378 IS 

1 vestigation into President Trump, to vote to initiate 

2 a formal impeachment inquiry; 

3 (2) calls on the House of Representatives to 

4 provide President Trump, like every other American, 

5 with due process, to include the ability to confront 

6 his accusers, call witnesses on his behalf, and have 

7 a basic understanding of the accusations against him 

8 that would form any basis for impeachment; and 

9 (3) calls on the House of Representatives to 

10 provide members of the minority with the ability to 

11 participate fully in all proceedings and have equal 

12 authority to issue subpoenas and other compulsory 

13 process. 

Æ 


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