IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 15 

Calling upon any agreement reached between the President and Vladimir 

Putin at their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to be approved by Congress. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Ms. JACKSON LEE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 

such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Calling upon any agreement reached between the President 

and Vladimir Putin at their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, to be approved by Congress. 

Whereas the strength of the American constitutional system 

designed in 1787 in Philadelphia is the National Government’s separated powers in which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches serve as checks and counterbalances on each other, and fidelity to the rule of law is 

the highest value and responsibility; 

Whereas United States intelligence agencies concluded in 

2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale 

of the United States Presidential election against Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with a 


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state-authorized campaign of cyberattacks and fake news 

stories planted on social media; 

Whereas, in late July 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened an investigation into the hacking of 

the Democratic National Committee’s emails, which the 

United States intelligence community would attribute to 

the Russian Government; 

Whereas an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) issued 

in January 2017 concluded that Russian efforts to influence the 2016 United States Presidential election represented the most recent expression of the Russian government’s longstanding objective to undermine the 

United States-led Western Alliance and international 

democratic order, and that these activities demonstrated 

a significant escalation in directness, level of activity, and 

scope of effort compared to previous operations; 

Whereas the ICA assessed that Russian Federation President 

Vladimir Putin ordered a disinformation campaign in 

2016 aimed at influencing the outcome of the United 

States Presidential election and that Russia’s goals were 

to undermine public faith in the United States democratic process, undermine the Presidential campaign of 

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and facilitate the 

election of President Putin’s preferred candidate, Donald 

J. Trump; 

Whereas Russian interference in the election processes of 

democratic countries is not new but instead a continuation of the ‘‘Translator Project’’, an ongoing information warfare effort launched by Russian Federation 

President Putin in 2014 to use social media to manipulate public opinion and voters in Western democracies; 


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Whereas, on July 27, 2016, Russian military intelligence 

agents made their first effort to break into the servers 

used by Mrs. Clinton’s personal office, a burglary occurring immediately following then-Republican Presidential 

nominee Donald J. Trump’s direct appeal to Russia to 

hack the Clinton campaign’s servers, saying, ‘‘Russia, if 

you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 

emails that are missing,’’ referring to Secretary of State 

Hillary Clinton’s emails; 

Whereas the Department of Justice investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the Russian conspiracy 

to defraud the United States by sabotaging the 2016 

Presidential election is still ongoing; 

Whereas at least 12 Trump campaign officials and associates 

had contacts with Russians during the campaign or transition, with at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures and at least 51 individual 

communications; 

Whereas senior Trump campaign officials known to have had 

contact with Russians include the President’s son-in-law 

and adviser, Jared Kushner, his son Donald J. Trump, 

Jr., former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and 

Trump National Campaign Chairman Paul D. Manafort; 

Whereas the Special Counsel has, to date, indicted 32 persons, including 4 Trump campaign or administration officials, as well as 25 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies; 

Whereas the Special Counsel has obtained indictments 

against Trump Campaign National Chairman Paul D. 

Manafort, Deputy Campaign Chairman and Manafort 


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business partner Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Trump campaign official and the first National Security Advisor to 

the President of the United States, George Papadopoulos, 

Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, Alex van der 

Zwaan, a lawyer who lied to the FBI about his dealings 

with Rick Gates and was jailed for 30 days, Richard 

Pinedo, who has pleaded guilty to identity thefts to facilitate the Russian conspiracy, and Konstantin Kilimnik, a 

Russian national and business associate of Paul D. 

Manafort; 

Whereas, on February 16, 2018, 13 Russian nationals connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian 

‘‘troll factory’’, including Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate 

of Vladimir Putin, were indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States by spreading fake news stories 

through United States social media; 

Whereas, on July 13, 2018, 12 Russian military intelligence 

officers were charged with hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton Presidential campaign, and 

the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee 

using spear phishing emails and malicious software; 

Whereas Maria Butina, a Russian national, was indicted for 

unlawfully acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign 

government, for working under the direction of Alexander 

Torchin in furtherance of a plan backed by the Russian 

Foreign Ministry to co-opt influential leaders of the Republican Party and conservative organizations like the 

National Rifle Association and the Fellowship Foundation, which hosts the National Prayer Breakfast; 

Whereas the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI 

issued a joint alert in March of 2018 stating that ‘‘Russian government cyber actors’’ have been targeting 


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United States critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear, and commercial facilities, since at least 

March 2016; 

Whereas the Russian government is known to have targeted 

the same critical infrastructure sectors of Ukraine shortly 

before interfering in the elections of that nation; 

Whereas in addition to the Justice Department investigation 

led by Special Counsel Mueller, there are three pending 

congressional investigations probing Russian interference 

in the 2016 Presidential election; 

Whereas, on July 21, 2017, The Washington Post reported 

that lawyers representing the President of the United 

States are exploring ways to limit or undercut Special 

Counsel Mueller’s Russia investigation and that the 

President himself had ‘‘asked his advisers about his 

power to pardon aides, family members and even himself 

in connection with the probe’’; 

Whereas at the meeting in Helsinki, Finland, rather than embracing the conclusions of the intelligence community, the 

President of the United States sided with President 

Putin in heaping scorn on the ICA regarding Russian interference and called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference ‘‘the greatest political witch hunt in history’’; 

Whereas at their postmeeting joint press conference in Helsinki, President Putin stated that in order for him to permit the Special Counsel to question the 12 Russian military intelligence agents indicted for conspiracy to defraud 

the United States, the United States must reciprocate by 

making available for interrogation by Russian authorities 

a former United States Ambassador to Russia and 11 


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other persons, an offensive suggestion that the President 

of the United States nonetheless characterized favorably 

as an ‘‘incredible offer’’; 

Whereas prior to the July 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 

Americans have become increasingly concerned regarding 

the cozy relationship between the President of the United 

States and the leader of its most formidable adversary, 

President Putin, whose actions or conduct the President 

of the United States has found no reason to criticize or 

condemn, notwithstanding his well-documented propensity to attack, criticize, and disrespect other persons at 

will, from the leaders of America’s most stalwart allies to 

private citizens he dislikes; 

Whereas Trump and Putin agreed to meet again following 

the meeting in Helsinki, with Trump ultimately inviting 

Putin to the White House in the fall; 

Whereas the nature, extent, and scope of the agreements 

reached in the Trump-Putin secret meeting held in Helsinki announced by Russian authorities remain unknown 

to senior United States national security and defense officials, including the Director of National Intelligence; 

Whereas the President of the United States has blamed tensions with Russia on ‘‘many years of U.S. foolishness and 

stupidity,’’ stating that the United States relationship 

with Russia ‘‘has NEVER been worse’’—including periods like the Cuban missile crisis, and the wars in Korea 

and Vietnam; 

Whereas following the meeting in Helsinki, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, stated that 

‘‘important verbal agreements’’ were reached between the 


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President of the United States and the President of the 

Russian Federation; 

Whereas such purported agreements include the preservation 

of the New START and INF agreements and major bilateral arms control treaties; 

Whereas according to media reports the President of the 

United States did not raise with President Putin the 

causes contributing to United States-Russia tension, including Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for 

the rebels in Ukraine, its continued support of the Assad 

regime in Syria, its interference in the elections in the 

United States and Europe, the nerve agent poisonings in 

the United Kingdom, and Russia’s opposition to article V 

of the North Atlantic Treaty; 

Whereas Russia is claiming that it is has reached agreements 

with the President of the United States that favor the 

Kremlin’s interests without any disputation or confirmation from the President of the United States to his national security advisors, the Congress, or the American 

people; and 

Whereas to protect the vital interests of the United States, 

any agreements reached in Helsinki between the President of the United States and the Russian Federation 

President in their secret meeting in Helsinki must be 

subjected to congressional scrutiny and approval: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) strongly disapproves of the President’s fail3 ure to support the assessment of the intelligence 

4 community that agents and entities of or allied with 


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1 the Government of the Russian Federation conspired 

2 to interfere, and did interfere, with the 2016 Presi3 dential election, acting under the direction and with 

4 the approval of President Vladimir Putin, for the 

5 purpose of facilitating the election of their preferred 

6 Presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump; 

7 (2) strongly opposes any future secret meetings 

8 between the President of the United States and Rus9 sian President Vladimir Putin; and 

10 (3) calls upon the President to submit any 

11 agreement reached with Russian President Putin in 

12 Helsinki to the Congress for review and approval. 

Æ 


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