I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6340 

To extend conflict of interest provisions to the President and Vice President 

of the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2016 

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To extend conflict of interest provisions to the President 

and Vice President of the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Account5 ability Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACTS AFFECTING A PERSONAL FINANCIAL INTER2 EST OF THE PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT 

3 OF THE UNITED STATES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 208 the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘§ 208A. Acts affecting a personal financial interest of 

8 the President or Vice President of the 

9 United States 

10 ‘‘(a) Except as permitted by subsection (b) hereof, 

11 whoever, being the President or Vice President of the 

12 United States, participates personally and substantially, 

13 through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, 

14 the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, in a 

15 judicial or other proceeding, application, request for a rul16 ing or other determination, contract, claim, controversy, 

17 charge, accusation, arrest, or other particular matter in 

18 which, to their knowledge, the President or Vice President 

19 of the United States, their spouse, child, general partner, 

20 organization in which they are serving as officer, director, 

21 trustee, general partner or employee, or any person or or22 ganization with whom they are negotiating or has any ar23 rangement concerning prospective employment, has a fi24 nancial interest shall be subject to the penalties set forth 

25 in section 216 of this title. 

26 ‘‘(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply— 


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1 ‘‘(1) if the financial interest that would be af2 fected by the particular matter involved is held in a 

3 qualified blind trust as defined by subsection (g); or 

4 ‘‘(2) if the President or Vice President of the 

5 United States first advises the Director of the Office 

6 of Government Ethics of the nature and cir7 cumstances of the judicial or other proceeding, appli8 cation, request for a ruling or other determination, 

9 contract, claim, controversy, charge, accusation, ar10 rest, or other particular matter and makes full dis11 closure of the financial interest and receives in ad12 vance a written determination made by the Director 

13 of the Office of Government Ethics that the interest 

14 is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect 

15 the actions of the President or Vice President or un16 dermine the public’s confidence in the integrity of 

17 their office. 

18 ‘‘(c) In the event that a national emergency neces19 sitates the President or Vice President taking any imme20 diate action that affects their personal financial interests 

21 prior to receiving an exemption under subsection (b)(2), 

22 the President or Vice President shall, in addition to the 

23 information required by subsection (b)(2), notify the Di24 rector of the Office of Government Ethics of the cir25 cumstances requiring action to be taken prior to the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6340.IH H6340

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1 ceipt of an exemption and shall make a retroactive request 

2 for an exemption under subsection (b)(2) within 48 hours 

3 of taking the action. The Director of the Office of Govern4 ment Ethics shall then make a written determination as 

5 to whether an exemption under subsection (b)(2) would 

6 have been issued had the President or Vice President re7 quested an exemption prior to taking the action. Should 

8 the Director of the Office of Government Ethics determine 

9 that an exemption would not have been granted, the Presi10 dent or Vice President shall, to the extent practicable, re11 turn, repay, remit, or refund any benefit gained as a result 

12 of that action. Any financial gains that cannot be repaid 

13 shall be gifted to reduce the public debt pursuant to sec14 tion 3113 of title 31, United States Code. 

15 ‘‘(d) The Director of the Office of Government Ethics 

16 shall complete the written determination required under 

17 subsection (b)(2) and subsection (c) as soon as prac18 ticable, but in no event shall the determination be made 

19 later than 10 days following a request for an exemption. 

20 Any request for exemption under subsection (b)(2) and 

21 subsection (c) not receiving a written determination within 

22 10 days will be deemed to have been denied. 

23 ‘‘(e) A copy of any request for an exemption and a 

24 copy of any determination made in response to a request 

25 for an exemption, including exemptions under subsection 


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1 (b)(2) or (c) and any determination deemed to have been 

2 denied under subsection (d), shall be made available to 

3 the public by the Office of Government Ethics within 10 

4 days of the receipt of a request for an exemption pursuant 

5 to procedures set forth in section 105 of the Ethics in Gov6 ernment Act of 1978. In making such determination avail7 able, the agency may withhold from disclosure any infor8 mation contained in the determination that would be ex9 empt from disclosure under section 552 of title 5. 

10 ‘‘(f) A violation of subsection (a) shall constitute a 

11 high crime and misdemeanor for the purposes of article 

12 II, section 4 of the United States Constitution. 

13 ‘‘(g) For the purposes of this section, the term ‘quali14 fied blind trust’ shall include any trust in which the Presi15 dent or Vice President of the United States, their spouse, 

16 or any child has a beneficial interest in the principal or 

17 income, and which meets the following requirements: 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(A) The trustee of the trust and any 

20 other entity designated in the trust instrument 

21 to perform fiduciary duties is a financial insti22 tution, an attorney, a certified public account23 ant, a broker, or an investment advisor who— 

24 ‘‘(i) is independent of and not associ25 ated with any interested party so that the 


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1 trustee or other person cannot be con2 trolled or influenced in the administration 

3 of the trust by any interested party; 

4 ‘‘(ii) is not and has not been an em5 ployee of or affiliated with any interested 

6 party and is not a partner of, or involved 

7 in any joint venture or other investment 

8 with, any interested party; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) is not a relative of any inter10 ested party. 

11 ‘‘(B) Any officer or employee of a trustee 

12 or other entity who is involved in the manage13 ment or control of the trust— 

14 ‘‘(i) is independent of and not associ15 ated with any interested party so that such 

16 officer or employee cannot be controlled or 

17 influenced in the administration of the 

18 trust by any interested party; 

19 ‘‘(ii) is not a partner of, or involved in 

20 any joint venture or other investment with, 

21 any interested party; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) is not a relative of any inter23 ested party. 

24 ‘‘(2) Any asset transferred to the trust by an 

25 interested party is free of any restriction with reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6340.IH H6340

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1 spect to its transfer of sale unless such restriction 

2 is expressly approved in writing by the Director of 

3 the Office of Government Ethics. 

4 ‘‘(3) The trust instrument that establishes the 

5 trust provides that— 

6 ‘‘(A) except to the extent provided in sub7 paragraph (2) of this subsection, the trustee in 

8 the exercise of his authority and discretion to 

9 manage and control the assets of the trust shall 

10 not consult or notify any interested party; 

11 ‘‘(B) the trust shall not contain any asset 

12 the holding of which by any interested party is 

13 prohibited by any law or regulation; 

14 ‘‘(C) the trustee shall promptly notify the 

15 reporting individual and the Director of the Of16 fice of Government Ethics when the holdings of 

17 any particular asset transferred to the trust by 

18 any interested party are disposed of or when 

19 the value of such holding is less than $1,000; 

20 ‘‘(D) the trust tax return shall be prepared 

21 by the trustee or his designee, and such return 

22 and any information relating thereto (other 

23 than the trust income summarized in appro24 priated categories necessary to complete an inVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Nov 19, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6340.IH H6340

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1 terested party’s tax return), shall not be dis2 closed to any interested party; 

3 ‘‘(E) an interested party shall not receive 

4 any report on the holdings and sources of in5 come of the trust, except a report at the end of 

6 each calendar quarter with respect to the total 

7 cash value of the interest of the interested party 

8 in the trust or the net income or loss of the 

9 trust or any reports necessary to enable the in10 terested party to complete an individual tax re11 turn required by law, but such report shall not 

12 identify any asset or holding; 

13 ‘‘(F) except for communications which 

14 solely consist of requests for distributions of 

15 cash or other unspecified assets of the trust, 

16 there shall be no direct or indirect communica17 tion between the trustee and an interested 

18 party with respect to the trust unless such com19 munication is in writing (a copy of which shall 

20 be provided to the Director of the Office of 

21 Government Ethics), and unless it relates only 

22 (i) to the general financial interest and needs of 

23 the interested party (including, but not limited 

24 to, an interest in maximizing income or long25 term capital gain), (ii) to the notification of a 


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1 trustee of a law or regulation subsequently ap2 plicable to the reporting individual which pro3 hibits the interested party from holding an 

4 asset, which notification directs that the asset 

5 not be held by the trust, or (iii) to directions to 

6 the trustee to sell all of an asset initially placed 

7 in the trust by an interested party which in the 

8 determination of the reporting individual cre9 ates a conflict of interest or the appearance 

10 thereof due to the subsequent assumption of 

11 duties by the reporting individual; and 

12 ‘‘(G) the interested parties shall make no 

13 effort to obtain information with respect to the 

14 holdings of the trust, including obtaining a copy 

15 of any trust tax return filed or any information 

16 relating thereto except as otherwise provided in 

17 this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(4) The proposed trust instrument and the 

19 proposed trustee are certified in writing by the Di20 rector of the Office of Government Ethics to be in 

21 compliance with the requirements of this section. 

22 The Director of the Office of Government Ethics 

23 shall conduct an annual recertification of the trust 

24 instrument and trustee to verify that they remain in 

25 compliance with the requirements of this section. If 


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1 at any time the Director of the Office of Govern2 ment Ethics determines that the trust instrument or 

3 trustee are no longer in compliance with require4 ments of this section, the Director of the Office of 

5 Government Ethics shall notify the Committee on 

6 Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 

7 Representatives and the Committee on Homeland 

8 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, 

9 and provide written notification to the interested 

10 parties that they are no longer eligible for an exemp11 tion under subsection (b)(1) until the trust instru12 ment and trustee are recertified. 

13 ‘‘(5) For the purposes of this subsection, ‘inter14 ested party’ means the President or Vice President 

15 of the United States, their spouse, and any child; 

16 ‘reporting individual’ means the President or Vice 

17 President of the United States; ‘broker’ has the 

18 meaning set forth in section 3(a)(4) of the Securities 

19 Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(4)); and 

20 ‘investment adviser’ includes any investment adviser 

21 who, as determined under regulations prescribed by 

22 the Office of Government Ethics, is generally in23 volved in their role as such an advisor in the man24 agement or control of trusts. 


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1 ‘‘(6) Any written certification or notification 

2 made pursuant to subsection (g) shall be made avail3 able to the public within 10 days of the certification 

4 or notification being made.’’. 

5 (b) IN GENERAL.—Section 216 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a) by inserting ‘‘208A,’’ after 

8 ‘‘208,’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘208A,’’ after 

10 ‘‘208,’’; and 

11 (3) in subsection (c) by inserting ‘‘208A,’’ after 

12 ‘‘208,’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 at the beginning of chapter 11 of title 18, United States 

15 Code, is amended by inserting after ‘‘Sec. 208. Acts affect16 ing a personal financial interest.’’ the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 208A. Acts affecting a personal financial interest of the President or Vice 

President of the United States.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. CONTRACTS BY THE PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESI18 DENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 431 of title 18, United 

20 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘the President or 

21 Vice President of the United States,’’ after ‘‘Whoever, 

22 being’’. 

Æ 


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