IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 799 

Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, of 

high crimes and misdemeanors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 6, 2007 

Mr. KUCINICH submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United 

States, of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

1 Resolved, That Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of 

2 the United States, is impeached for high crimes and mis3 demeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment 

4 be exhibited to the United States Senate: 

5 Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 

6 Representatives of the United States of America in the 

7 name of itself and of the people of the United States of 

8 America, against Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the 

9 United States of America, in maintenance and support of 


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1 its impeachment against him for high crimes and mis2 demeanors. 

3 Article I 

4 In his conduct while Vice President of the United 

5 States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitu6 tional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice Presi7 dent of the United States and, to the best of his ability, 

8 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 

9 United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty 

10 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has pur11 posely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the 

12 citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating 

13 a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify 

14 the use of the United States Armed Forces against the 

15 nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national secu16 rity interests, to wit: 

17 (1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the 

18 Vice President actively and systematically sought to 

19 deceive the citizens and Congress of the United 

20 States about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of 

21 mass destruction: 

22 (A) ‘‘We know they have biological and 

23 chemical weapons.’’ March 17, 2002, Press 

24 Conference by Vice President Dick Cheney and 

25 His Highness Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, 


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1 Crown Prince of Bahrain at Shaikh Hamad 

2 Palace. 

3 (B) ‘‘. . . and we know they are pursuing 

4 nuclear weapons.’’ March 19, 2002, Press 

5 Briefing by Vice President Dick Cheney and 

6 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jeru7 salem. 

8 (C) ‘‘And he is actively pursuing nuclear 

9 weapons at this time . . .’’ March 24, 2002, 

10 CNN Late Edition interview with Vice Presi11 dent Cheney. 

12 (D) ‘‘We know he’s got chemicals and bio13 logical and we know he’s working on nuclear.’’ 

14 May 19, 2002, NBC Meet the Press interview 

15 with Vice President Cheney. 

16 (E) ‘‘But we now know that Saddam has 

17 resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear 

18 weapons . . . Simply stated, there is no doubt 

19 that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass 

20 destruction. There is no doubt that he is amass21 ing them to use against our friends, against our 

22 allies, and against us.’’ August 26, 2002, 

23 Speech of Vice President Cheney at VFW 

24 103rd National Convention. 


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1 (F) ‘‘Based on intelligence that’s becoming 

2 available, some of it has been made public, 

3 more of it hopefully will be, that he has indeed 

4 stepped up his capacity to produce and deliver 

5 biological weapons, that he has reconstituted 

6 his nuclear program to develop a nuclear weap7 on, that there are efforts under way inside Iraq 

8 to significantly expand his capability.’’ Sep9 tember 8, 2002, NBC Meet the Press interview 

10 with Vice President Cheney. 

11 (G) ‘‘He is, in fact, actively and aggres12 sively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.’’ 

13 September 8, 2002, NBC Meet the Press inter14 view with Vice President Cheney. 

15 (H) ‘‘And we believe he has, in fact, recon16 stituted nuclear weapons.’’ March 16, 2003, 

17 NBC Meet the Press interview with Vice Presi18 dent Cheney. 

19 (2) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq 

20 the Vice President was fully informed that no legiti21 mate evidence existed of weapons of mass destruc22 tion in Iraq. The Vice President pressured the intel23 ligence community to change their findings to enable 

24 the deception of the citizens and Congress of the 

25 United States. 


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1 (A) Vice President Cheney and his Chief of 

2 Staff, Lewis Libby, made multiple trips to the 

3 CIA in 2002 to question analysts studying 

4 Iraq’s weapons programs and alleged links to al 

5 Qaeda, creating an environment in which ana6 lysts felt they were being pressured to make 

7 their assessments fit with the Bush administra8 tion’s policy objectives accounts. 

9 (B) Vice President Cheney sought out 

10 unverified and ultimately inaccurate raw intel11 ligence to prove his preconceived beliefs. This 

12 strategy of cherry picking was employed to in13 fluence the interpretation of the intelligence. 

14 (3) The Vice President’s actions corrupted or 

15 attempted to corrupt the 2002 National Intelligence 

16 Estimate, an intelligence document issued on Octo17 ber 1, 2002, and carefully considered by Congress 

18 prior to the October 10, 2002, vote to authorize the 

19 use of force. The Vice President’s actions prevented 

20 the necessary reconciliation of facts for the National 

21 Intelligence Estimate which resulted in a high num22 ber of dissenting opinions from technical experts in 

23 two Federal agencies. 

24 (A) The State Department’s Bureau of In25 telligence and Research dissenting view in the 


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1 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate 

2 stated ‘‘Lacking persuasive evidence that Bagh3 dad has launched a coherent effort to reconsti4 tute its nuclear weapons program INR is un5 willing to speculate that such an effort began 

6 soon after the departure of UN inspectors or to 

7 project a timeline for the completion of activi8 ties it does not now see happening. As a result 

9 INR is unable to predict that Iraq could ac10 quire a nuclear device or weapon.’’. 

11 (B) The State Department’s Bureau of In12 telligence and Research dissenting view in the 

13 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate 

14 also stated that ‘‘Finally, the claims of Iraqi 

15 pursuit of natural uranium in Africa are, in 

16 INR’s assessment, highly dubious.’’. 

17 (C) The State Department’s Bureau of In18 telligence and Research dissenting view in the 

19 October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate 

20 references a Department of Energy opinion by 

21 stating that ‘‘INR accepts the judgment of 

22 technical experts at the U.S. Department of 

23 Energy (DOE) who have concluded that the 

24 tubes Iraq seeks to acquire are poorly suited for 

25 use in gas centrifuges to be used for uranium 


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1 enrichment and finds unpersuasive the argu2 ments advanced by others to make the case that 

3 they are intended for that purpose.’’. 

4 The Vice President subverted the national security 

5 interests of the United States by setting the stage for the 

6 loss of more than 3,800 United States service members; 

7 the loss of more than 1 million innocent Iraqi citizens 

8 since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately 

9 $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal 

10 debt; the loss of military readiness within the United 

11 States Armed Services due to overextension, lack of train12 ing and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credi13 bility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback 

14 created by the invasion of Iraq. 

15 In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has 

16 acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, 

17 and subversive of constitutional government, to the preju18 dice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury 

19 of the people of the United States. Wherefore, Vice Presi20 dent Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, is guilty of an 

21 impeachable offense warranting removal from office. 

22 Article II 

23 In his conduct while Vice President of the United 

24 States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitu25 tional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice PresiVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:46 Nov 07, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR799.IH HR799

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1 dent of the United States and, to the best of his ability, 

2 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 

3 United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty 

4 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, purposely 

5 manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens 

6 and Congress of the United States about an alleged rela7 tionship between Iraq and al Qaeda in order to justify the 

8 use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation 

9 of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security 

10 interests, to wit: 

11 (1) Despite all evidence to the contrary, the 

12 Vice President actively and systematically sought to 

13 deceive the citizens and the Congress of the United 

14 States about an alleged relationship between Iraq 

15 and al Qaeda: 

16 (A) ‘‘His regime has had high-level con17 tacts with Al Qaeda going back a decade and 

18 has provided training to Al Qaeda terrorists.’’ 

19 December 2, 2002, Speech of Vice President 

20 Cheney at the Air National Guard Senior Lead21 ership Conference. 

22 (B) ‘‘His regime aids and protects terror23 ists, including members of Al Qaeda. He could 

24 decide secretly to provide weapons of mass de25 struction to terrorists for use against us.’’ JanVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:46 Nov 07, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR799.IH HR799

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1 uary 30, 2003, Speech of Vice President Che2 ney to 30th Political Action Conference in Ar3 lington, Virginia. 

4 (C) ‘‘We know he’s out trying once again 

5 to produce nuclear weapons and we know that 

6 he has a long-standing relationship with various 

7 terrorist groups, including the Al Qaeda organi8 zation.’’ March 16, 2003, NBC Meet the Press 

9 interview with Vice President Cheney. 

10 (D) ‘‘We learned more and more that there 

11 was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda 

12 that stretched back through most of the decade 

13 of the ’90s, that it involved training, for exam14 ple, on biological weapons and chemical 

15 weapons . . .’’ September 14, 2003, NBC 

16 Meet the Press interview with Vice President 

17 Cheney. 

18 (E) ‘‘Al Qaeda had a base of operation 

19 there up in Northeastern Iraq where they ran 

20 a large poisons factory for attacks against Eu21 ropeans and U.S. forces.’’ October 3, 2003, 

22 Speech of Vice President Cheney at Bush-Che23 ney ’04 Fundraiser in Iowa. 

24 (F) ‘‘He also had an established relation25 ship with Al Qaeda providing training to Al 


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1 Qaeda members in areas of poisons, gases, and 

2 conventional bombs.’’ October 10, 2003, Speech 

3 of Vice President Cheney to the Heritage Foun4 dation. 

5 (G) ‘‘Al Qaeda and the Iraqi intelligence 

6 services have worked together on a number of 

7 occasions.’’ January 9, 2004, Rocky Mountain 

8 News interview with Vice President Cheney. 

9 (H) ‘‘I think there’s overwhelming evidence 

10 that there was a connection between Al Qaeda 

11 and the Iraqi Government.’’ January 22, 2004, 

12 NPR: Morning Edition interview with Vice 

13 President Cheney. 

14 (I) ‘‘First of all, on the question of—of 

15 whether or not there was any kind of relation16 ship, there clearly was a relationship. It’s been 

17 testified to; the evidence is overwhelming.’’ 

18 June 17, 2004, CNBC: Capital Report inter19 view with Vice President Cheney. 

20 (2) Preceding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq 

21 the Vice President was fully informed that no cred22 ible evidence existed of a working relationship be23 tween Iraq and al Qaeda, a fact articulated in sev24 eral official documents, including: 


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1 (A) A classified Presidential Daily Briefing 

2 ten days after the September 11, 2001, attacks 

3 indicating that the United States intelligence 

4 community had no evidence linking Saddam 

5 Hussein to the September 11th attacks and 

6 that there was ‘‘scant credible evidence that 

7 Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with 

8 Al Qaeda’’. 

9 (B) Defense Intelligence Terrorism Sum10 mary No. 044–02, issued in February 2002 by 

11 the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, 

12 which challenged the credibility of information 

13 gleaned from captured al Qaeda leader al-Libi. 

14 The DIA report also cast significant doubt on 

15 the possibility of a Saddam Hussein-al-Qaeda 

16 conspiracy: ‘‘Saddam’s regime is intensely sec17 ular and is wary of Islamic revolutionary move18 ments. Moreover, Baghdad is unlikely to pro19 vide assistance to a group it cannot control.’’. 

20 (C) A January 2003 British intelligence 

21 classified report on Iraq that concluded that 

22 ‘‘there are no current links between the Iraqi 

23 regime and the al-Qaeda network’’. 

24 The Vice President subverted the national security 

25 interests of the United States by setting the stage for the 


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1 loss of more than 3,800 United States service members; 

2 the loss of more than 1 million innocent Iraqi citizens 

3 since the United States invasion; the loss of approximately 

4 $500 billion in war costs which has increased our Federal 

5 debt; the loss of military readiness within the United 

6 States Armed Services due to overextension, lack of train7 ing and lack of equipment; the loss of United States credi8 bility in world affairs; and the decades of likely blowback 

9 created by the invasion of Iraq. 

10 In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has 

11 acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, 

12 and subversive of constitutional government, to the preju13 dice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury 

14 of the people of the United States. 

15 Wherefore, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, by 

16 such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense war17 ranting removal from office. 

18 Article III 

19 In his conduct while Vice President of the United 

20 States, Richard B. Cheney, in violation of his constitu21 tional oath to faithfully execute the office of Vice Presi22 dent of the United States and, to the best of his ability, 

23 preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the 

24 United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty 

25 to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has openVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:46 Nov 07, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR799.IH HR799

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1 ly threatened aggression against the Republic of Iran ab2 sent any real threat to the United States, and done so 

3 with the United States proven capability to carry out such 

4 threats, thus undermining the national security of the 

5 United States, to wit: 

6 (1) Despite no evidence that Iran has the inten7 tion or the capability of attacking the United States 

8 and despite the turmoil created by United States in9 vasion of Iraq, the Vice President has openly threat10 ened aggression against Iran as evidenced by the fol11 lowing: 

12 (A) ‘‘For our part, the United States is 

13 keeping all options on the table in addressing 

14 the irresponsible conduct of the regime. And we 

15 join other nations in sending that regime a 

16 clear message: We will not allow Iran to have 

17 a nuclear weapon.’’ March 7, 2006, Speech of 

18 Vice President Cheney to American Israel Pub19 lic Affairs Committee 2006 Policy Conference. 

20 (B) ‘‘But we’ve also made it clear that all 

21 options are on the table.’’ January 24, 2007, 

22 CNN Situation Room interview with Vice Presi23 dent Cheney. 

24 (C) ‘‘When we—as the President did, for 

25 example, recently—deploy another aircraft carVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:46 Nov 07, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR799.IH HR799

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1 rier task force to the Gulf, that sends a very 

2 strong signal to everybody in the region that 

3 the United States is here to stay, that we clear4 ly have significant capabilities, and that we are 

5 working with friends and allies as well as the 

6 international organizations to deal with the Ira7 nian threat.’’ January 29, 2007, Newsweek 

8 interview with Vice President Cheney. 

9 (D) ‘‘But I’ve also made the point and the 

10 President has made the point that all options 

11 are still on the table.’’ February 24, 2007, Vice 

12 President Cheney at Press Briefing with Aus13 tralian Prime Minister in Sydney, Australia. 

14 (2) The Vice President, who repeatedly and 

15 falsely claimed to have had specific, detailed knowl16 edge of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction 

17 capabilities, is no doubt fully aware of evidence that 

18 demonstrates Iran poses no real threat to the United 

19 States as evidenced by the following: 

20 (A) ‘‘I know that what we see in Iran right 

21 now is not the industrial capacity you can [use 

22 to develop a] bomb.’’ Mohamed ElBaradei, Di23 rector General of International Atomic Energy 

24 Agency, February 19, 2007. 


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1 (B) Iran indicated its ‘‘full readiness and 

2 willingness to negotiate on the modality for the 

3 resolution of the outstanding issues with the 

4 IAEA, subject to the assurances for dealing 

5 with the issues in the framework of the Agency, 

6 without the interference of the United Nations 

7 Security Council’’. IAEA Board Report, Feb8 ruary 22, 2007. 

9 (C) ‘‘. . . so whatever they have, what we 

10 have seen today, is not the kind of capacity that 

11 would enable them to make bombs.’’ Mohamed 

12 ElBaradei, Director General of International 

13 Atomic Energy Agency, February 19, 2007. 

14 (3) The Vice President is fully aware of the ac15 tions taken by the United States towards Iran that 

16 are further destabilizing the world as evidenced by 

17 the following: 

18 (A) The United States has refused to en19 gage in meaningful diplomatic relations with 

20 Iran since 2002, rebuffing both bilateral and 

21 multilateral offers to dialogue. 

22 (B) The United States is currently en23 gaged in a military buildup in the Middle East 

24 that includes the increased presence of the 

25 United States Navy in the waters near Iran, 


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1 significant United States Armed Forces in two 

2 nations neighboring to Iran, and the installa3 tion of anti-missile technology in the region. 

4 (C) News accounts have indicated that 

5 military planners have considered the B61–11, 

6 a tactical nuclear weapon, as one of the options 

7 to strike underground bunkers in Iran. 

8 (D) The United States has been linked to 

9 anti-Iranian organizations that are attempting 

10 to destabilize the Iranian Government, in par11 ticular the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), even 

12 though the State Department has branded it a 

13 terrorist organization. 

14 (E) News accounts indicate that United 

15 States troops have been ordered into Iran to 

16 collect data and establish contact with anti-gov17 ernment groups. 

18 (4) In the last three years the Vice President 

19 has repeatedly threatened Iran. However, the Vice 

20 President is legally bound by the U.S. Constitution’s 

21 adherence to international law that prohibits threats 

22 of use of force. 

23 (A) Article VI of the United States Con24 stitution states, ‘‘This Constitution, and the 

25 Laws of the United States which shall be made 


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1 in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or 

2 which shall be made, under the Authority of the 

3 United States, shall be the supreme Law of the 

4 Land.’’ Any provision of an international treaty 

5 ratified by the United States becomes the law 

6 of the United States. 

7 (B) The United States is a signatory to 

8 the United Nations Charter, a treaty among the 

9 nations of the world. Article II, section 4 of the 

10 United Nations Charter states, ‘‘All Members 

11 shall refrain in their international relations 

12 from the threat or use of force against the ter13 ritorial integrity or political independence of 

14 any state, or in any other manner inconsistent 

15 with the Purposes of the United Nations.’’ The 

16 threat of force is illegal. 

17 (C) Article 51 lays out the only exception, 

18 ‘‘Nothing in the present Charter shall impair 

19 the inherent right of individual or collective 

20 self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a 

21 Member of the United Nations, until the Secu22 rity Council has taken measures necessary to 

23 maintain international peace and security.’’ 

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1 fore any threat against Iran by the United 

2 States is illegal. 

3 The Vice President’s deception upon the citizens and 

4 Congress of the United States that enabled the failed 

5 United States invasion of Iraq forcibly altered the rules 

6 of diplomacy such that the Vice President’s recent bellig7 erent actions towards Iran are destabilizing and counter8 productive to the national security of the United States. 

9 In all of this, Vice President Richard B. Cheney has 

10 acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Vice President, 

11 and subversive of constitutional government, to the preju12 dice of the cause of law and justice and the manifest injury 

13 of the people of the United States. 

14 Wherefore Richard B. Cheney, by such conduct, war15 rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office. 

Æ 


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