PRINTER'S NO. 322
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
32
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY HAYWOOD, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, FEBRUARY 26, 2019
A RESOLUTION
Urging the United States House of Representatives to consider
the adoption of articles of impeachment against President
Donald J. Trump.
WHEREAS, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 (the foreign
emoluments clause) of the Constitution of the United States
provides the following: "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, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State"; and
WHEREAS, Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 (the domestic
emoluments clause) of the Constitution of the United States
provides the following: "The President shall, at stated Times,
receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be
encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall
have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period
any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them"; and
WHEREAS, Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States,
owns various business interests and receives various streams of
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income from all over the world, by means of which he receives
emoluments from foreign governments, states of the United States
or the United States itself; and
WHEREAS, The term "emoluments" includes a broad range of
financial benefits, including, but not limited to, monetary
payments, purchase of goods and services even for fair market
value, subsidies, tax breaks, extensions of credit and favorable
regulatory treatment; and
WHEREAS, Leading constitutional scholars and government
ethics experts warned Mr. Trump shortly after the November 2016
election that, unless he fully divested his businesses and
invested the money in conflict-free assets or a blind trust, he
would violate the Constitution from the moment he took office;
and
WHEREAS, On January 11, 2017, nine days before his
inauguration, Mr. Trump announced a plan that would, if carried
out, remove him from day-to-day operations of his businesses but
not eliminate any of the ongoing flow of emoluments from foreign
governments, state governments or the United States Government;
and
WHEREAS, On January 20, 2017, Mr. Trump took the oath of
office and became President of the United States; and
WHEREAS, From the moment he took office, President Trump has
been in violation of the foreign emoluments clause and the
domestic emoluments clause of the Constitution of the United
States, thereby corruptly advancing his personal wealth,
undermining the integrity of the presidency and violating the
public trust; and
WHEREAS, Under 52 U.S.C. § 30121(a)(1)(A), it is unlawful for
a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make "a
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contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to
make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or
donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local
election"; and
WHEREAS, Under 52 U.S.C. § 30121(a)(2), it is unlawful for "a
person to solicit, accept, or receive" such a contribution or
donation from a foreign national; and
WHEREAS, On June 3, 2016, Donald J. Trump, Jr., Mr. Trump's
eldest son, exchanged a series of emails scheduling a meeting to
receive incriminating information about his father's general
election opponent, which was described as coming from the
Russian government, as "part of Russia and its government's
support for Mr. Trump"; and
WHEREAS, On June 9, 2016, Mr. Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort, Mr.
Trump's then-campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump's
son-in-law and senior advisor, met with several Russian citizens
linked to the Russian government with the intention of acquiring
the information offered in the June 3 emails; and
WHEREAS, On July 8, 2017, the day this meeting was publicly
revealed, Mr. Trump, Jr., released a public statement which was
later shown to be misleading about the circumstances and purpose
of the meeting; and
WHEREAS, It has been reported that President Trump personally
dictated his son's misleading statement about the meeting; and
WHEREAS, On May 9, 2017, President Trump fired James Comey,
the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and
WHEREAS, On the date of his firing, Director Comey was
leading one or more investigations that might have incriminated
President Trump and his close associates; and
WHEREAS, Regardless of the ultimate outcome of those criminal
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investigations, President Trump interfered with them by firing
Director Comey; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has advocated illegal violence,
given aid and comfort to white supremacists and neo-Nazis and
undermined the constitutional protections of equal protection
under law; and
WHEREAS, In August 2017, after neo-Nazis and white
supremacists marched on Charlottesville, Virginia, murdering one
peaceful protestor and injuring several others in a terror
attack, President Trump blamed the violence on "both sides" and
stated that the neo-Nazi and white supremacist marchers included
"very fine people"; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has abused the pardon power of the
President; and
WHEREAS, On August 25, 2017, President Trump pardoned Joseph
Arpaio, the former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who was
convicted of criminal contempt of court for willfully and openly
defying a judicial order to cease a practice, which the court
found to be unconstitutional, of detaining individuals, based on
their presumed Latino ancestry, without reasonable suspicion
that they had committed any crime; and
WHEREAS, It is believed that in our nation's history, no
previous president has ever pardoned a public official convicted
of criminal contempt of court for willfully disobeying a court
order to stop violating individuals' constitutional rights; and
WHEREAS, The pardon undermines separation of powers and due
process of law by allowing an official to flout a judicial
mandate without consequences; and
WHEREAS, The pardon sends a dangerous message to unscrupulous
government officials who may be inclined to follow in Mr.
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Arpaio's path and to President Trump's associates who may be
subpoenaed in connection with ongoing Federal investigations
that President Trump may be willing to use the pardon power to
protect them from negative consequences for defying court
orders, further undermining separation of powers and due process
of law and obstructing justice; and
WHEREAS, In the late summer of 2017, President Trump made
increasingly reckless public threats against North Korea,
including that "being nice to Rocket Man hasn't worked," that
"military solutions" were "locked and loaded," that he had
instructed the Secretary of State that he was "wasting his time"
negotiating with North Korean leadership because "we'll do what
has to be done," that the United States might have no choice but
to "totally destroy" North Korea, that North Korea "will be met
with fire and fury like the world has never seen," that "only
one thing will work" and that North Korea or its leadership
"won't be around much longer"; and
WHEREAS, President Trump reportedly informed a member of the
United States Senate that he would use the military option
against North Korea if it continued testing missiles; and
WHEREAS, After President Trump reportedly told senior
advisers that he wanted to increase the country's nuclear
weapons stockpile eightfold, the Secretary of State was so
alarmed by the president's lack of understanding of the risks of
nuclear weapons that he reportedly referred to the president as
a "moron"; and
WHEREAS, The existing tension between the United States and
North Korea, in addition to the lack of accurate understanding
of intentions of the leadership of the United States and North
Korea, means that threats of invasion or bombing could easily
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lead to a further misunderstanding or miscalculation resulting
in the use of nuclear weapons by either or both sides; and
WHEREAS, Such a conflagration could quickly spread to South
Korea, Japan, China and Russia, the latter two of which also
have and might be drawn into an exchange of nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, Available public evidence suggests that President
Trump does not understand, or is unwilling or unable to
understand, the risks of the use of nuclear weapons or of how
the North Korean leadership could interpret or misinterpret his
verbal threats or movement of military forces as military
attacks that lead them to respond with conventional or nuclear
attacks on the United States or other nations; and
WHEREAS, President Trump's reckless threats of nuclear war
against foreign nations, undermining and subverting the
essential diplomatic functions and authority of Federal
agencies, including the United States Department of State, and
other conduct that heightens the risk of hostilities involving
weapons of mass destruction, grossly and wantonly endanger the
peace and security of the United States, its people and people
of other nations, with reckless disregard for the risk of death
and grievous bodily harm; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has issued public statements,
including on Twitter, pressuring the United States Department of
Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party and other political
adversaries; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has issued public comments on other
pending criminal and court martial proceedings, with the evident
purpose to direct and influence the prosecution and outcome of
specific proceedings, to the detriment of the independence of
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law enforcement from command influence and in derogation of the
right to a fair trial; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has directed or endeavored to direct
law enforcement, including the United States Department of
Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to investigate
and prosecute political adversaries and others, for improper
purposes not justified by any lawful function of his office,
thereby eroding the rule of law, undermining the independence of
law enforcement from politics and compromising the
constitutional right to due process of law; and
WHEREAS, President Trump has repeatedly attacked major United
States news organizations as "fake news" and "the enemy of the
American people," and abused the power of his office in efforts
to retaliate against the independent press, thus undermining the
freedom of the press at home and abroad; and
WHEREAS, President Trump, through his administration, has
cruelly and deliberately imprisoned children who have committed
no crime, separately from their parents, in violation of the
fundamental human rights of both parents and children in
contravention of the Constitution of the United States, in some
cases resulting in permanent separation of children from their
parents due to governmental action, in violation of due process
of law and the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment;
and
WHEREAS, President Trump stands accused by his own personal
attorney of having made and directed payments of "hush money" to
prevent two former mistresses from speaking publicly about his
extramarital affairs, for the purpose of influencing the 2016
election and in violation of Federal campaign finance law;
therefore be it
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RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
urge the United States House of Representatives to consider the
adoption of articles of impeachment against President Donald J.
Trump; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
support a resolution authorizing and directing the Committee on
the Judiciary of the United States House of Representatives to
fully investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the
impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States,
including, but not limited to, the following violations:
(1) violating the foreign emoluments clause and domestic
emoluments clause of the Constitution of the United States;
(2) obstructing justice;
(3) conspiring with others to:
(i) commit crimes against the United States
involving the solicitation and intended receipt by the
Trump campaign of things of value from a foreign
government and other foreign nationals; and
(ii) conceal those violations;
(4) advocating illegal violence, giving aid and comfort
to white supremacists and neo-Nazis and undermining
constitutional protections of equal protection under the law;
(5) abusing the pardon power;
(6) recklessly threatening nuclear war against foreign
nations, undermining and subverting the essential diplomatic
functions and authority of Federal agencies, including the
United States Department of State, and engaging in other
conduct that grossly and wantonly endangers the peace and
security of the United States, its people and people of other
nations by heightening the risk of hostilities involving
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weapons of mass destruction, with reckless disregard for the
risk of death and grievous bodily harm;
(7) directing or endeavoring to direct law enforcement,
including the United States Department of Justice and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, to investigate and prosecute
political adversaries and others for improper purposes not
justified by any lawful function of his office, thereby
eroding the rule of law, undermining the independence of law
enforcement from politics and compromising the constitutional
right to due process of law;
(8) undermining the freedom of the press;
(9) cruelly and unconstitutionally imprisoning children
and their families; and
(10) making and directing illegal payments to influence
the 2016 election;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
each member of the United States House of Representatives who
represents Pennsylvania.
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