Kaptur stands with Judiciary Democrats to push for investigation regarding President Trump, Russia and conflicts of interest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2017
Contact: Josh Stewart, (202) 225-4146, Joshua.Stewart@mail.house.gov
Kaptur stands with Judiciary Democrats to push for investigation regarding President Trump, Russia and conflicts of interest
Washington D.C. – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) today stood with her House Democratic colleagues in support of Rep. Jerry Nadler's (NY-10) House Resolution of Inquiry requesting information from the Department of Justice on President Trump's business conflicts and Russia ties. The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the measure on Tuesday.
"With news that senior White House staff urged the FBI and the chairman of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees to do damage control around unflattering stories, it is more important than ever that we have an independent investigation into Russia's ties to the President and his senior aides," said Kaptur.
"Since day one President Trump has been in violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. We still don't know what his financial connections are to Putin and Russia, only that his own past comments contradict his recent assertions that he has no relationships there," Kaptur continued. "As Co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, I am very concerned about the continued back-channeling, deception and inconstancy from the Trump Administration on Russia. We must be united as a nation with our NATO allies, lest we strengthen Putin's effort to destabilize Eastern Europe and the rest of the world."
Before the Judiciary Committee vote Kaptur stood with Rep. Jerry Nadler and Judiciary Committee Democrats at a press conference
The press conference and Committee vote comes after news reports that President Donald Trump's White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to publicly dispute a report from the New York Times, that described contacts between Russian intelligence officials and President Trump's then campaign team. Priebus' efforts also included contacts with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA-22), the chairmen of the Senate and House intelligence committees to ask them to challenge the veracity of the news accounts. Administration officials said that Priebus' denouncements, which ranged from "overstated" to calling them "complete garbage," had been cleared by the FBI Director and Deputy Director, calling into further question the independence of the intelligence community.
Kaptur introduced a bill in January on emoluments legislation to empower Congress to explicitly deny President-elect Trump consent of acceptance of any and all payments or gifts. The bill, entitled the No Congressional Consent for President Donald J. Trump to Accept Foreign Emoluments of Any Kind Whatsoever Act ensures compliance with the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. The bill as introduced has more than 30 original cosponsors. Read Kaptur's full remarks on the matter in an op-ed, published in The Hill. The op-ed was coauthored by former Indiana Rep. Jill Long Thompson, now an ethics professor at Indiana University.
What is the Emolument's clause and how does it apply to Trump? For more, read a report from the Brookings Institution authored by former Republican and Democratic ethics advisors.