Title: Accepting and strongly supporting the assessment of the intelligence community with respect to Russian Federation interference in the 2016 Presidential election and calling on the President of the United States to rescind the invitation to President Vladimir Putin, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Expresses support for the intelligence community's assessment that Russian agents, acting under the direction of President Vladimir Putin, interfered with the 2016 presidential election.
Calls upon President Trump to rescind the invitation to President Vladimir Putin to the United States unless the 12 indicted Russian military intelligence agents submit to federal court jurisdiction.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1014 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1014

 Accepting and strongly supporting the assessment of the intelligence 
 community with respect to Russian Federation interference in the 2016 
Presidential election and calling on the President of the United States 
 to rescind the invitation to President Vladimir Putin, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2018

    Ms. Jackson Lee (for herself, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Watson 
Coleman, Ms. Lee, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. 
   Shea-Porter, Mr. Doggett, and Mr. Kildee) 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


 
 Accepting and strongly supporting the assessment of the intelligence 
 community with respect to Russian Federation interference in the 2016 
Presidential election and calling on the President of the United States 
 to rescind the invitation to President Vladimir Putin, and for other 
                               purposes.

Whereas, on July 16, 2018, the President of the United States and the President 
        of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki, Finland to 
        discuss matters of mutual interest and global importance to the safety 
        and peace of the world;
Whereas at this meeting the President of the United States failed to confront 
        President Putin or hold him accountable for actions undertaken by 
        Russian military intelligence officers and others at the behest of 
        President Putin for the express purpose of securing victory in the 2016 
        United States Presidential election for his preferred Presidential 
        candidate, Donald J. Trump;
Whereas there was compelling reason for the President of the United States to 
        confront President Putin because the Intelligence Community Assessment 
        (``ICA'') of January 2017 concluded that--

    (1) 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

    (2) these activities demonstrated a significant escalation in 
directness, level of activity, and scope of effort compared to previous 
operations;

Whereas the ICA also assessed that President Putin ordered an influence campaign 
        in 2016 aimed at the United States Presidential election with the goal 
        of--

    (1) undermining public faith in the United States democratic process;

    (2) denigrating Democratic Presidential candidate and implacable foe of 
President Putin, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and

    (3) facilitating the election of President Putin's preferred candidate, 
Donald J. Trump;

Whereas the ICA also assessed that President Putin and the Russian Government 
        conspired to help elect Republican Presidential candidate Donald J. 
        Trump by means of a disinformation campaign to turn public opinion 
        against the campaign of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary 
        Clinton;
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 President Putin in 2014 
        to use social media to manipulate public opinion and voters in western 
        democracies;
Whereas President Putin and the Russian Government have committed truly 
        despicable acts for many years, including the occupation of Georgia, the 
        imprisonment and killing of journalists, the use of chemical weapons on 
        the soil of Great Britain, and the destruction of a passenger airliner 
        which killed 298 innocent civilians;
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 the Department of Justice has secured an indictment charging 12 Russian 
        military intelligence officers with theft of property belonging to the 
        Democratic National Committee, the Clinton Presidential campaign, and 
        the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee through means of cyber 
        intrusion or computer ``hacking'';
Whereas The New York Times and other publications have reported that officials 
        and operatives of the Trump Presidential campaign met with agents of the 
        Russian Federation for the purpose of obtaining or benefitting from 
        information stolen by the Russian military intelligence persons to be 
        used to damage the Presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary 
        Clinton;
Whereas it has been reported that at least 12 Trump campaign associates had 
        contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign or the ensuing 
        transition, with at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Russians or 
        Kremlin-linked figures and at least 51 individual communications;
Whereas Trump campaign aides 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 Adviser Michael Flynn, Attorney 
        General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, and Trump campaign chairman Paul 
        Manafort;
Whereas according to the Washington Post, the President of the United States 
        ``has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members 
        and even himself in connection with [Special Counsel Robert Mueller's] 
        probe'';
Whereas instead of supporting the unanimous assessment of the Intelligence 
        Community, the President of the United States has sought to attack, 
        discredit, and undermine the agencies and officials responsible for 
        detecting and assessing Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential 
        election as well as the law enforcement officials responsible for 
        investigating and bringing to justice the conspirators who committed 
        crimes against the United States;
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 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 other persons, an 
        offensive suggestion that the President of the United States nonetheless 
        characterized favorably as an ``incredible offer''; and
Whereas the President of the United States, in the aftermath of the humiliating 
        debacle in Helsinki, has invited President Putin to come to the United 
        States for another set of secret meetings at the White House: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) accepts and strongly supports the assessment of the 
        Intelligence Community that agents and entities of or allied 
        with the Government of the Russian Federation conspired to 
        interfere, and did interfere, with the 2016 Presidential 
        election, acting under the direction and with the approval of 
        President Vladimir Putin, for the purpose of facilitating the 
        election of their preferred Presidential candidate, Donald J. 
        Trump; and
            (2) calls upon the President of the United States to 
        rescind the invitation to President Vladimir Putin unless and 
        until the 12 indicted Russian military intelligence agents 
        submit to the jurisdiction of the federal courts of the United 
        States.
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