III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 4 

Clarifying any potential misunderstanding as to whether actions taken by 

President-elect Donald Trump constitute a violation of the Emoluments 

Clause, and calling on President-elect Trump to divest his interest in, 

and sever his relationship to, the Trump Organization. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 4, 2017 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. CARPER, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BROWN, 

Mr. CASEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. UDALL, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. COONS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, 

Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. MARKEY, 

Mr. BOOKER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Clarifying any potential misunderstanding as to whether actions taken by President-elect Donald Trump constitute 

a violation of the Emoluments Clause, and calling on 

President-elect Trump to divest his interest in, and sever 

his relationship to, the Trump Organization. 

Whereas article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States 

Constitution (commonly known as the ‘‘Emoluments 

Clause’’) declares, ‘‘No title of Nobility shall be granted 

by the United States: And no Person holding any Office 

of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent 


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of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, 

Prince, or foreign State.’’; 

Whereas, according to the remarks of Governor Edmund 

Randolph at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the 

Emoluments Clause ‘‘was thought proper, in order to exclude corruption and foreign influence, to prohibit any 

one in office from receiving or holding any emoluments 

from foreign states’’; 

Whereas the issue of foreign corruption greatly concerned the 

Founding Fathers of the United States, such that Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 22 wrote, ‘‘In republics, persons elevated from the mass of the community, 

by the suffrages of their fellow-citizens, to stations of 

great pre-eminence and power, may find compensations 

for betraying their trust, which, to any but minds animated and guided by superior virtue, may appear to exceed the proportion of interest they have in the common 

stock, and to overbalance the obligations of duty. Hence 

it is that history furnishes us with so many mortifying 

examples of the prevalency of foreign corruption in republican governments.’’; 

Whereas the President of the United States is the head of 

the executive branch of the Federal Government and is 

expected to have undivided loyalty to the United States, 

and clearly occupies an ‘‘office of profit or trust’’ within 

the meaning of article I, section 9, clause 8 of the Constitution, according to the Office of Legal Counsel of the 

Department of Justice; 

Whereas the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of 

Justice opined in 2009 that corporations owned or conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 05, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC4.IS SC4

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trolled by a foreign government are presumptively foreign 

states under the Emoluments Clause; 

Whereas President-elect Donald J. Trump has a business 

network, the Trump Organization, that has financial interests around the world and negotiates and concludes 

transactions with foreign states and entities that are extensions of foreign states; 

Whereas Michael Cohen, an attorney for Donald J. Trump 

and the Trump Organization, initially stated that the 

Trump Organization would be placed into a ‘‘blind trust’’ 

managed by Donald Trump’s children, Donald Trump, 

Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump; 

Whereas the very nature of a ‘‘blind trust’’ is such that the 

official will have no control over, will receive no communications about, and will have no knowledge of the identity of the specific assets held in the trust, and that the 

manager of the trust is independent of the owner, and as 

such the arrangement proposed by Mr. Cohen is not a 

blind trust; 

Whereas, on November 30, 2016, President-elect Donald J. 

Trump announced on Twitter that ‘‘I will be holding a 

major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be 

leaving my great business in total in order to fully focus 

on running the country in order to MAKE AMERICA 

GREAT AGAIN!’’; 

Whereas, on December 12, 2016, President-elect Donald J. 

Trump abruptly canceled the planned December 15, 

2016, news conference, and has provided no set date for 

a future announcement; 


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Whereas, on December 12, 2016, President-elect Donald J. 

Trump stated on Twitter, ‘‘Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses [sic] 

before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the 

Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done 

during my term(s) in office’’; 

Whereas numerous legal and constitutional experts, including 

several former White House ethics counsels, have made 

clear that, notwithstanding the problems inherent in temporarily ceding control of the Trump Organization to his 

children, such an arrangement, in which the Presidentelect fails to exit the ownership of his businesses through 

use of a blind trust or equivalent, will leave the President-elect with a personal financial interest in businesses 

that collect foreign government payments and benefits, 

which raises both constitutional and public interest concerns; 

Whereas Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush have set the precedent of using true blind trusts, in which their holdings 

were liquidated and placed in new investments unknown 

to them by an independent trustee who managed them 

free of familial bias; 

Whereas the continued intermingling of the business of the 

Trump Organization and the work of government has the 

potential to constitute the foreign corruption so feared by 

the Founding Fathers and to betray the trust of America’s citizens; 

Whereas the intent of this resolution is to prevent any potential misunderstanding or crisis with regards to whether 

the actions of Donald J. Trump as President of the 


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United States will violate the Emoluments Clause of the 

Constitution, Federal law, or fundamental principles of 

ethics; and 

Whereas Congress has an institutional, constitutional obligation to ensure that the President of the United States 

does not violate the Emoluments Clause and is discharging the obligations of office based on the national 

interest, not based on personal interest: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) calls upon President-elect Donald J. Trump 

4 to follow the precedent established by prior Presi5 dents and convert his assets to simple, conflict-free 

6 holdings, adopt blind trusts managed by an inde7 pendent trustee with no relationship to Donald J. 

8 Trump or his businesses, or take other equivalent 

9 measures, in order to ensure compliance with the 

10 Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitu11 tion; 

12 (2) calls upon President-elect Donald J. Trump 

13 not to use the powers or opportunities of his position 

14 as President-elect or President of the United States 

15 for any purpose related to the Trump Organization; 

16 and 

17 (3) regards, in the absence of such actions out18 lined in paragraph (1) or specific authorization by 


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1 Congress, dealings that Donald J. Trump, as Presi2 dent of the United States, may have through his 

3 companies with foreign governments or entities 

4 owned or controlled by foreign governments as po5 tential violations of the Emoluments Clause. 

Æ 


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