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 Se-
lect Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be sub-
sequently 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, Fin-
land, to be approved by Congress. 
Whereas the strength of the American constitutional system 
designed in 1787 in Philadelphia is the National Govern-
ment’s separated powers in which the legislative, execu-
tive, and judicial branches serve as checks and counter-
balances 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 Demo-
cratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, with a 
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•HRES 15 IH 
state-authorized campaign of cyberattacks and fake news 
stories planted on social media; 
Whereas, in late July 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion (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 influ-
ence the 2016 United States Presidential election rep-
resented the most recent expression of the Russian gov-
ernment’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 demo-
cratic 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 continu-
ation of the ‘‘Translator Project’’, an ongoing informa-
tion warfare effort launched by Russian Federation 
President Putin in 2014 to use social media to manipu-
late public opinion and voters in Western democracies; 
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•HRES 15 IH 
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 occur-
ring 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 Spe-
cial 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 tran-
sition, with at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Rus-
sians 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, At-
torney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and 
Trump National Campaign Chairman Paul D. Manafort; 
Whereas the Special Counsel has, to date, indicted 32 per-
sons, including 4 Trump campaign or administration offi-
cials, as well as 25 Russian nationals and 3 Russian com-
panies; 
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 cam-
paign 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 facili-
tate the Russian conspiracy, and Konstantin Kilimnik, a 
Russian national and business associate of Paul D. 
Manafort; 
Whereas, on February 16, 2018, 13 Russian nationals con-
nected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian 
‘‘troll factory’’, including Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate 
of Vladimir Putin, were indicted for conspiracy to de-
fraud 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 Na-
tional 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 Re-
publican Party and conservative organizations like the 
National Rifle Association and the Fellowship Founda-
tion, 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 ‘‘Rus-
sian government cyber actors’’ have been targeting 
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•HRES 15 IH 
United States critical infrastructure sectors, including en-
ergy, 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 em-
bracing the conclusions of the intelligence community, the 
President of the United States sided with President 
Putin in heaping scorn on the ICA regarding Russian in-
terference and called Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s in-
vestigation into Russia’s interference ‘‘the greatest polit-
ical witch hunt in history’’; 
Whereas at their postmeeting joint press conference in Hel-
sinki, President Putin stated that in order for him to per-
mit the Special Counsel to question the 12 Russian mili-
tary 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 propen-
sity 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 Hel-
sinki announced by Russian authorities remain unknown 
to senior United States national security and defense of-
ficials, including the Director of National Intelligence; 
Whereas the President of the United States has blamed ten-
sions with Russia on ‘‘many years of U.S. foolishness and 
stupidity,’’ stating that the United States relationship 
with Russia ‘‘has NEVER been worse’’—including peri-
ods like the Cuban missile crisis, and the wars in Korea 
and Vietnam; 
Whereas following the meeting in Helsinki, Russia’s ambas-
sador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, stated that 
‘‘important verbal agreements’’ were reached between the 
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•HRES 15 IH 
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 bi-
lateral 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, in-
cluding 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 confirma-
tion from the President of the United States to his na-
tional 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 Presi-
dent 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 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) strongly disapproves of the President’s fail-
ure to support the assessment of the intelligence 
community that agents and entities of or allied with 
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