III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 56 

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 

NOVEMBER 29, 2016 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. REID, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. MIKULSKI, 

Mrs. BOXER, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. REED, Mr. CARPER, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. 

WHITEHOUSE, Mr. UDALL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. FRANKEN, 

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

Ms. WARREN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, and Mr. CASEY) 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 

of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, OfVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Nov 29, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC56.IS SC56

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•SCON 56 IS 

fice, 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 controlled by a foreign government are presumptively foreign 

states under the Emoluments Clause; 


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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, has 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 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 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 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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