Title: Asserting that Congress should expend the resources necessary to investigate thoroughly the nature and extent of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, including whether there was collusion between persons associated with the Russian government and persons associated with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump to influence the outcome of the election.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Declares that Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election with the assistance and interference of the Russian government.
Calls for Congress to investigate thoroughly the nature and extent of such interference, and whether, and to what extent, there was collusion between persons associated with the Russian government and persons associated with the Trump presidential campaign to influence the outcome of the election.
Such investigation shall also examine whether, and to what extent, persons associated with the Trump campaign:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 15 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 15

   Asserting that Congress should expend the resources necessary to 
investigate thoroughly the nature and extent of Russian interference in 
 the 2016 presidential election, including whether there was collusion 
  between persons associated with the Russian government and persons 
    associated with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump to 
                 influence the outcome of the election.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2017

     Ms. Maxine Waters of California (for herself, Ms. Judy Chu of 
  California, Ms. Lee, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Clarke of New 
York, Ms. Barragan, Mrs. Watson Coleman, and Ms. Jackson Lee) submitted 
    the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on 
  Foreign Affairs, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Asserting that Congress should expend the resources necessary to 
investigate thoroughly the nature and extent of Russian interference in 
 the 2016 presidential election, including whether there was collusion 
  between persons associated with the Russian government and persons 
    associated with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump to 
                 influence the outcome of the election.

Whereas the intelligence community of the United States of America concluded 
        that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election 
        for the purpose of increasing the chances that Donald J. Trump would be 
        elected President;
Whereas the intelligence community consists of dedicated professionals who have 
        served in both Republican and Democratic administrations;
Whereas Donald J. Trump has repeatedly mocked intelligence officials and 
        rejected the conclusions of the intelligence community;
Whereas the Russian government was responsible for cyberattacks against persons 
        affiliated with the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of 
        Hillary Clinton;
Whereas, in July of 2016, Donald J. Trump publicly encouraged Russian operatives 
        to conduct cyberattacks against Hillary Clinton, his political opponent;
Whereas, on December 29, 2016, President Barack Obama announced sanctions in 
        response to the Russian government's cyber operations aimed at the 2016 
        presidential election, and these sanctions affected nine entities and 
        individuals affiliated with the Russian government, including the Main 
        Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian government, one other 
        Russian intelligence service, four individual officers of the GRU, and 
        three companies that provided material support to the GRU's cyber 
        operations;
Whereas, on December 29, 2016, President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian 
        government officials who had failed to act in a manner consistent with 
        their diplomatic status and provided notice that as of December 30, 
        2016, Russian access would be denied to two Russian government-owned 
        compounds, one in Maryland and one in New York;
Whereas Donald J. Trump responded to the Obama Administration's sanctions 
        against Russia by announcing, ``It's time for our country to move on to 
        bigger and better things.'';
Whereas, on January 3, 2017, Donald J. Trump derided intelligence officials who 
        were scheduled to brief him on Russian cyberactivity, suggesting in a 
        tweet that they delayed the briefing because they needed more time ``to 
        build a case.'';
Whereas, on January 4, 2017, Donald J. Trump attempted to discredit the 
        intelligence community's conclusions by quoting WikiLeaks founder Julian 
        Assange in a tweet;
Whereas Donald J. Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin following the 
        latter's announcement that he would not oust American diplomats in 
        response to President Obama's decision to expel 35 Russian government 
        officials, saying in a tweet, ``I always knew he was smart!'';
Whereas Sean Spicer, Donald J. Trump's press secretary, said on January 2, 2017, 
        ``There is zero evidence that they influenced the election.'';
Whereas Sean Spicer also said there should be more focus on ``punishing'' 
        Hillary Clinton instead of Russia's cyber activities;
Whereas Donald J. Trump praised Vladimir Putin for sending him a Christmas 
        greeting, which he called, ``A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin.'';
Whereas Donald J. Trump has surrounded himself with advisors who have extensive 
        ties with the Russian government;
Whereas Paul Manafort, Donald J. Trump's former campaign manager, was a paid 
        lobbyist for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician in Ukraine 
        who fled to Russia in 2014 and was subjected to United States sanctions 
        related to Russian aggression in Ukraine, and Manafort has also been 
        involved in multimillion dollar business deals with Russian and 
        Ukrainian oligarchs, which reportedly were the subject of an inquiry by 
        the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
Whereas Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald J. Trump's National Security 
        Advisor, did a paid series of events in Moscow, including a speech and 
        appearance at a party for RT, a Kremlin-funded TV station, where he was 
        photographed sitting next to Vladimir Putin;
Whereas Donald J. Trump's nominee for Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, was a 
        business partner of Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch and ally of 
        Vladimir Putin, in a major financial project involving the Bank of 
        Cyprus;
Whereas Donald J. Trump's nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, the 
        former Chief Executive Officer of ExxonMobil, signed a multibillion 
        dollar agreement with Russia in 2011 on behalf of ExxonMobil for an oil 
        drilling project in the Arctic, which was brought to a halt in 2014 as a 
        result of sanctions that were imposed on Russia in response to Russia's 
        aggression in Ukraine, and moreover, Rex Tillerson was awarded the 
        ``Order of Friendship'' by Vladimir Putin in 2013;
Whereas the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued an 
        Intelligence Community Assessment on January 6, 2017, the declassified 
        version of which stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an 
        influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election, the 
        goals of which ``were to undermine public faith in the US democratic 
        process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and 
        potential presidency.'';
Whereas the declassified version of the Intelligence Community Assessment stated 
        that the intelligence community has high confidence in this judgment;
Whereas the declassified version of the Intelligence Community Assessment also 
        stated, ``Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-
        elect Donald J. Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting 
        Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.'';
Whereas the declassified version of the Intelligence Community Assessment stated 
        that the CIA and the FBI have high confidence in this judgment and the 
        NSA has moderate confidence;
Whereas it was reported by American news media that intelligence community 
        officials presented to Donald J. Trump classified documents that 
        included allegations that there was a continuing exchange of information 
        during the presidential campaign between persons affiliated with Donald 
        J. Trump and persons affiliated with the Russian government and 
        allegations that Russian operatives claimed to possess compromising 
        personal and financial information about Donald J. Trump;
Whereas following the news reports, Donald J. Trump ridiculed intelligence 
        agencies in a tweet that said, ``Intelligence agencies should never have 
        allowed this fake news to `leak' into the public. One last shot at me. 
        Are we living in Nazi Germany?'';
Whereas James Comey, the Director of the FBI, during testimony before the Senate 
        Select Committee on Intelligence on January 10, 2017, refused to say 
        whether there was contact between persons affiliated with Donald J. 
        Trump and the Russian government during the presidential campaign or 
        whether the FBI was investigating the issue;
Whereas the chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Select Committee 
        on Intelligence issued a joint statement on January 20, 2017, announcing 
        that the Committee will investigate ``intelligence regarding links 
        between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns'' as 
        part of an investigation into Russian cyberattacks and election 
        meddling;
Whereas the chairman and ranking minority member of the House Permanent Select 
        Committee on Intelligence issued a joint statement on January 25, 2017, 
        announcing that the Committee has undertaken a bipartisan inquiry into 
        the underlying intelligence used to draft the Intelligence Community 
        Assessment, ``Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US 
        Elections'', and the scope of this inquiry includes, ``Russian cyber 
        activity and other `active measures' directed against the U.S. and its 
        allies'' and ``Counterintelligence concerns related to Russia and the 
        2016 U.S. election, including any intelligence regarding links between 
        Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns''; and
Whereas the American people have a right to know whether there was collusion 
        between persons affiliated with Donald J. Trump and the Russian 
        government to influence the outcome of the 2016 election: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election with 
        the assistance and interference of the Russian government; and
            (2) Congress should expend the resources necessary to 
        investigate thoroughly--
                    (A) the nature and extent of Russian interference 
                in the 2016 presidential election;
                    (B) whether, and to what extent, there was 
                collusion between persons associated with the Russian 
                government and persons associated, formally or 
                informally, with the presidential campaign of Donald J. 
                Trump to influence the outcome of the 2016 election;
                    (C) whether, and to what extent, persons associated 
                with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump were 
                aware of Russian interference in the 2016 election;
                    (D) whether, and to what extent, persons associated 
                with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump were 
                given information by persons associated with the 
                Russian government concerning cyberattacks on citizens 
                of the United States, including persons affiliated with 
                the Democratic Party or the presidential campaign of 
                Hillary Clinton;
                    (E) whether, and to what extent, persons associated 
                with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump 
                encouraged cyberattacks or other forms of espionage 
                against persons affiliated with the Democratic Party or 
                the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton; and
                    (F) whether, and to what extent, persons associated 
                with the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump aided 
                or assisted persons associated with the Russian 
                government in the proliferation of misinformation 
                intended to influence the 2016 election.
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