[House Report 115-265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session } { 115-265
======================================================================
RESOLUTION OF INQUIRY DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY TO
PROVIDE CERTAIN DOCUMENTS IN THE SECRETARY'S POSSESSION TO THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES RELATING TO PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS TO
RUSSIA, CERTAIN ILLEGAL FINANCIAL SCHEMES, AND RELATED INFORMATION
_______
July 28, 2017.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Hensarling, from the Committee on Financial Services,
submitted the following
ADVERSE REPORT
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 442]
The Committee on Financial Services, to whom was referred
the resolution (H. Res. 442) of inquiry directing the Secretary
of the Treasury to provide certain documents in the Secretary's
possession to the House of Representatives relating to
President Trump's financial connections to Russia, certain
illegal financial schemes, and related information, having
considered the same, report unfavorably thereon without
amendment and recommend that the resolution not be agreed to.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
On July 13, 2017, Representative Maxine Waters introduced
H. Res. 442. This resolution of inquiry would direct the
Secretary of the Treasury ``to provide certain documents in the
Secretary's possession to the House of Representatives relating
to President Trump's financial connections to Russia, certain
illegal financial schemes, and related information.'' This
resolution of inquiry names the President and several of his
family members and associates, and applies to any Trump-owned
entity. The Secretary is directed to furnish to the House of
Representatives all relevant ``copies of any document, record,
including any applicable suspicious activity report (``SAR''),
memo, correspondence, or other communication'' within 14 days
after the adoption of this resolution. H. Res. 442 does not
specify the purpose of the inquiry.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H. Res. 442 is a resolution of inquiry. The resolution of
inquiry is a measure infrequently used by the U.S. House of
Representatives designed to obtain certain factual information
from the Executive Branch. Clause 7 of Rule XIII of the House
affords privileged status to a resolution of inquiry. The
resolution is subject to a motion to discharge if the committee
to which it was referred does not report the measure within 14
legislative days of its introduction. Accordingly, the
Committee on Financial Services considered H. Res. 442 on July
25, 2017, which is within the 14-day period and reported the
resolution unfavorably.
Representative Waters and other Democratic Members of the
Committee on Financial Services authored a number of letters
requesting information on President Trump, his associates, and
businesses potentially linked to him or his associates and
contacts or relationships with the Russian Federation. The most
recent letter was sent to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on May 23,
2017, and included a request for both documents and records
similar to the demands made in H. Res. 442. The resolution of
inquiry expands on the May 23, 2017 letter to include a list of
specific Trump-affiliated individuals and entities.
The Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) likely maintains the bulk of the
records envisioned in H. Res. 442. In addition to SARs, the
resolution likely would include any Currency Transaction Report
(CTR), Form 8300 (Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000), or
similar records submitted to FinCEN pursuant to the Bank
Secrecy Act (BSA). Also encompassed in the resolution likely
would be any analytic product, email, or memo produced by
FinCEN or any other component of Treasury relating to the
subjects named in the resolution. H. Res. 442 explicitly
requires the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish any requests
made to FinCEN regarding these subjects by other countries'
financial intelligence units (FIU), specifically to include the
FIU of Cyprus.
In general, BSA records like SARs contain a variety of
personally-identifiable information (PII) on the subject of the
record, as well as on any individuals that may be associated
with the transaction or activity being reported. For example, a
SAR has several sections:
Part 1 includes the name and address of the
financial institution, the address(es) of the
branch(es) where the suspicious activity occurred, and
the account number(s) affected by the suspicious
activity (whether associated with the suspect or with
another party).
Part 2 includes the full name, address, date
of birth, phone number (home and business), occupation,
and any identifying document number known (Social
Security number, driver's license number, passport
number, etc.).
Part 3 characterizes the suspicious activity,
with multiple types of activity possible, including
money laundering, bribery, check fraud, loan fraud,
counterfeit instruments, debit/credit card fraud,
terrorist financing, etc.
Part 4 lists the point of contact within the
filing institution (usually a fraud investigator),
should follow-up or further information be required.
Part 5 is a free-text narrative, where the
filing institution describes in its own words the
suspicious activity. This section can include a variety
of information that the filing institution believes may
be of interest to law enforcement and FinCEN, such as a
description of the transactions, the reasons why the
filing institution believed the activity to be
suspicious, and other extraneous details that may be
relevant to the SAR. There is no restriction to the
type or amount of detail that may be provided in this
section, which often results in this being by far the
largest section of a given SAR, and often the most
useful for investigators.
In addition to demanding Treasury's information, H. Res.
442 also directs the Secretary to produce any requests for
information from foreign FIUs sent to FinCEN under the auspices
of the charter of the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence
Units (Egmont). Under the Egmont charter, dissemination of any
information or requests for information provided by a foreign
country to FinCEN must be cleared by the FIU that provided the
information. Any provision of this information by Treasury
without prior consent would be a violation of this
international agreement.
The variety of Congressional, Executive branch,
intelligence and law enforcement investigations currently
underway are well known to the Congress, the Members of the
Committee on Financial Services and to the American public. In
particular, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)
and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
(HPSCI) both are conducting wide-ranging, bipartisan
investigations into individuals and entities related to Russia.
Both SSCI and HPSCI also have already requested a wide variety
of information from the Treasury Department in furtherance of
their investigations. Additionally, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Central
Intelligence Agency are all investigating some aspects of
President Trump's associates, such as any Russian connections
to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
This resolution of inquiry seeks to obtain BSA records,
which include a wide variety of personal information and it
would expose an inordinate amount of personal information on
U.S. citizens to a Committee of Congress that does not
typically investigate classified matters.
Furthermore, Ranking Member Waters admitted on MSNBC's
Morning Joe on May 18, 2017, that there has been no actual
evidence that President Trump colluded with Russia to impact
the results of the presidential election.\1\ Thus, for the
aforementioned reasons the Committee rejects this resolution of
inquiry and reports it unfavorably to the House.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\See ``Maxine Waters admits there is no evidence of Trump
colluding with Russia,'' May 19, 2017, available at http://
www.theblaze.com/news/2017/05/19/maxine-waters-admits-there-is-no-
evidence-of-trump-colluding-with-russia/.
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HEARINGS
The Committee held no hearings on H. Res. 442.
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
The Committee on Financial Services met in open session on
July 25, 2017 and ordered H. Res. 442 to be reported
unfavorably to the House without amendment by a recorded vote
of 34 yeas to 26 nays (recorded vote no. FC-72), a quorum being
present.
COMMITTEE VOTES
Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires the Committee to list the record votes
on the motion to report legislation and amendments thereto. The
sole recorded vote was on a motion by Chairman Hensarling to
report the resolution unfavorably to the House without
amendment. The motion was agreed to by a recorded vote of 34
yeas to 26 nays (Record vote no. FC-72), a quorum being
present. The vote was as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ayes Nays Present
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeb Hensarling, Texas........................................ X ............... ...............
Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina........................... X ............... ...............
Peter T. King, New York...................................... X ............... ...............
Edward R. Royce, California.................................. X ............... ...............
Frank D. Lucas, Oklahoma..................................... X ............... ...............
Stevan Pearce, New Mexico.................................... X ............... ...............
Bill Posey, Florida.......................................... X ............... ...............
Blaine Luetkemeyer, Missouri................................. X ............... ...............
Bill Huizenga, Michigan...................................... X ............... ...............
Sean P. Duffy, Wisconsin..................................... X ............... ...............
Steve Stivers, Ohio.......................................... X ............... ...............
Randy Hultgren, Illinois..................................... X ............... ...............
Dennis A. Ross, Florida...................................... X ............... ...............
Robert Pittenger, North Carolina............................. X ............... ...............
Ann Wagner, Missouri......................................... X ............... ...............
Andy Barr, Kentucky.......................................... X ............... ...............
Keith J. Rothfus, Pennsylvania............................... X ............... ...............
Luke Messer, Indiana......................................... X ............... ...............
Scott Tipton, Colorado....................................... X ............... ...............
Roger Williams, Texas........................................ X ............... ...............
Bruce Poliquin, Maine........................................ X ............... ...............
Mia Love, Utah............................................... X ............... ...............
French Hill, Arkansas........................................ X ............... ...............
Tom Emmer, Minnesota......................................... X ............... ...............
Lee M. Zeldin, New York...................................... X ............... ...............
Dave A. Trott, Michigan...................................... X ............... ...............
Barry Loudermilk, Georgia.................................... X ............... ...............
Alexander X. Mooney, West Virginia........................... X ............... ...............
Thomas MacArthur, New Jersey................................. X ............... ...............
Warren Davidson, Ohio........................................ X ............... ...............
Ted Budd, North Carolina..................................... X ............... ...............
David Kustoff, Tennessee..................................... X ............... ...............
Claudia Tenney, New York..................................... X ............... ...............
Trey Hollingsworth, Indiana.................................. X ............... ...............
Maxine Waters, California.................................... ............... X ...............
Carolyn B. Maloney, New York................................. ............... X ...............
Nydia M. Velazquez, New York................................. ............... X ...............
Brad Sherman, California..................................... ............... X ...............
Gregory W. Meeks, New York................................... ............... X ...............
Michael E. Capuano, Massachusetts............................ ............... X ...............
Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri...................................... ............... X ...............
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts.............................. ............... X ...............
David Scott, Georgia......................................... ............... X ...............
Al Green, Texas.............................................. ............... X ...............
Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri.................................... ............... X ...............
Gwen Moore, Wisconsin........................................ ............... X ...............
Keith Ellison, Minnesota..................................... ............... X ...............
Ed Perlmutter, Colorado...................................... ............... X ...............
James A. Himes, Connecticut.................................. ............... X ...............
Bill Foster, Illinois........................................ ............... X ...............
Daniel T. Kildee, Michigan................................... ............... X ...............
John K. Delaney, Maryland.................................... ............... X ...............
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona...................................... ............... X ...............
Joyce Beatty, Ohio........................................... ............... X ...............
Denny Heck, Washington....................................... ............... X ...............
Juan Vargas, California...................................... ............... X ...............
Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey.................................. ............... X ...............
Vicente Gonzalez, Texas...................................... ............... X ...............
Charlie Crist, Florida....................................... ............... X ...............
Ruben J. Kihuen, Nevada...................................... ............... X ...............
--------------------------------------------------
Total.................................................... 34 26 ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the findings and recommendations of
the Committee based on oversight activities under clause
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives,
are incorporated in the descriptive portions of this report.
PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
With respect to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the
bill does not authorize funding, so no statement of general
performance goals and objectives is required.
NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES
Clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives is inapplicable.
COST ESTIMATE PREPARED BY THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
In compliance with clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the
Congressional Budget Office did not provide a cost estimate for
the resolution.
FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT
This information is provided in accordance with section 423
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. No. 104-
4). The Committee has determined that the bill does not contain
Federal mandates on the private sector. The Committee has
determined that the bill does not impose a Federal
intergovernmental mandate on State, local, or tribal
governments.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT
No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b)
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this
legislation.
APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of the section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.
EARMARK IDENTIFICATION
H. Res. 442 does not contain any congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in
clause 9 of rule XXI.
DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Pursuant to section 3(g)(2) of H. Res. 5, 115th Cong.
(2017), the Committee states that no provision of H. Res. 442
establishes or reauthorizes a program of the Federal Government
known to be duplicative of another Federal program, a program
that was included in any report from the Government
Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of
Public Law 111-139, or a program related to a program
identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance.
DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULEMAKING
In compliance with Sec. 3(i) of H. Res. 5, 115th Congress
(2017), the following statement is made concerning directed
rule makings: The Committee estimates that H. Res. 442
specifically directs to be completed no specific rule makings
within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. Sec. 551.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
At least four committees in Congress and several Executive
Branch agencies are already investigating these issues with the
same information. Adding yet another committee to the pile is
duplicative, wasteful, distracting, and unnecessary.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary
Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee have all announced
investigations into various aspects of the relationship of
President Trump with Russia.
Additionally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
National Security Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency
are all investigating some aspects of President Trump's
associates, such as any Russian connections to former National
Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
The Department of Justice, on May 18, 2017, appointed
former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel
to investigate any criminal wrongdoing by President Trump or
his associates related to Russia.
H. Res. 442 demands that the Treasury Department provide
the Congress with an incredible amount of very personal and
private information, including Social Security numbers, bank
account numbers, drivers' license numbers, and phone numbers
for anyone even potentially involved in a transaction.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
H. Res. 442 does not repeal or amend any section of a
statute. Therefore, the Office of Legislative Counsel did not
prepare the report contemplated by clause 3(e)(1)(B) of Rule
XIII of the House of Representatives.
MINORITY VIEWS
H. Res. 442, a Resolution of Inquiry (ROI), directs the
Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, to provide any
records from the Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement
Network (FinCEN) to the Committee that detail President Trump's
financial ties to Russia, as well as those of his family
members and associates.
The nearly constant stream of revelations about President
Trump's alleged ties to Russian government officials,
oligarchs, and organized crime leaders raises serious questions
as to whether these individuals may have financial leverage
over the President, his immediate family members and his
associates that ultimately influence whether the Administration
is acting in the best interests of the American people.
While President Trump has repeatedly maintained that he has
no investments in Russia, such declarations appear to belie the
full truth of his financial arrangements with Russia, as
indicated by a wide range of press outlets and even President
Trump's own family members. For example, Trump's son Eric has
previously stated that ``Russians make up a pretty
disproportionate cross-section of a lot of [their] assets,''
adding that ``[they] see a lot of money pouring in from
Russia.''
Additionally, President Trump's biggest lender, and the
only bank known to continue to lend to him after his
bankruptcies, is Deutsche Bank. Trump has now reportedly
amassed a total of approximately $340 million in outstanding
loans to Deutsche Bank. This significant debt raises concerns,
not only about the bank's exposure to higher risk given Trump's
history of defaulting on his debts, but also about conflicts of
interest, given that President Trump is responsible for
selecting the federal banking and Justice Department officials
responsible for overseeing the bank and holding it accountable
for violating the law. President Trump's extensive ties to the
bank are also deeply concerning given the Bank's involvement in
major illegal financial operations involving Russia. The
President's loans with the bank were also made under reportedly
``highly suspicious circumstances'' and raise questions as to
whether the loans were guaranteed in some way by Russia,
thereby compromising the President.
Committee Democrats have made repeated attempts to follow
the Trump money trail and investigate the suspicious financial
dealings of the President, his immediate family and his
associates, including their possible involvement in illicit
Russian financial schemes. Since March, Democrats have written
four letters--one to Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, one to
Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan, one to Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin, and another to Deutsche Bank's external counsel--
requesting their cooperation in exposing the full scope of
Russian influence on the Trump Administration.
On March 10th, 2017, Committee Democrats called on Chairman
Hensarling to use the full range of the Committee's
investigative powers to examine Deutsche Bank's Russian money-
laundering operation, and assess the integrity of the U.S.
Department of Justice's ongoing investigation into the scheme,
given the Trump Administration's conflicts of interest in the
matter and the revelations of Attorney General Sessions'
communications with the Russian Ambassador. Chairman Hensarling
failed to respond.
On May 23, 2017, Committee Democrats sent a letter to
Deutsche Bank's Chief Executive Officer John Cryan requesting
information on two internal reviews the Bank reportedly
conducted, the first on its 2011 Russian mirror trading
scandal, and the second on whether the accounts of President
Donald Trump and his family members held at the Bank had any
ties to Russia. Deutsche Bank's external counsel responded,
stating that Deutsche Bank was unable to cooperate with the
requests, citing privacy concerns.
On May 23, 2017, Committee Democrats also sent a letter to
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requesting that FinCEN
provide any records to the Committee that detail President
Trump's financial ties to Russia, as well as those of his
family members and associates. Secretary Mnuchin failed to
respond.
On June 21, 2017, Committee Democrats sent a follow up
letter to Deutsche Bank's outside counsel regarding the
lawmakers' request for information related to the accounts of
President Trump and his family members, including potential
ties to Russia, as well as information related to the 2011
Russian mirror trading scheme. In the letter, the lawmakers
asserted that governing federal privacy statutes invoked by the
Bank to withhold the information do not prohibit disclosure of
the information to Congress. Deutsche bank's outside counsel
ultimately failed to respond to the requests made in the
letter.
Given that FinCEN employs a team with expertise in
financial intelligence who work closely with law enforcement to
analyze over 200 million suspicious activity reports derived
from the more than 80,000 financial institutions, and given
that the Financial Services Committee is responsible for
examining and overseeing the operations of FinCEN, including
its ongoing efforts to collect, analyze, and disseminate
financial intelligence in support of law enforcement agencies'
investigative work, Democrats introduced the ROI to begin an
investigation into Trump's financial entanglements with Russia.
In addition to suspicious activity reports, currency
transaction reports, currency or monetary instrument reports,
geographic targeting orders, and foreign bank and financial
accounts reporting, FinCEN has information sharing arrangements
with foreign Financial Intelligence Units, which could detect
the reported types of suspicious Russian financial arrangements
that extend beyond American borders.
H. Res. 442 requests information that would shed light on
all of these matters and allow the Financial Services Committee
to begin an investigation into the numerous suspicious ties
among President Trump, his family members, his associates and
Russia.
For these reasons, we support H. Res. 442.
Maxine Waters.
Gwen Moore.
Stephen Lynch.
David Scott.
Ed Perlmutter.
Al Green.
Denny Heck.
Keith Ellison.
Bill Foster.
Ruben Kihuen.
Joyce Beatty.
Gregory W. Meeks.
Carolyn B. Maloney.
Nydia M. Velazquez.
Brad Sherman.
Wm. Lacy Clay.
Michael E. Capuano.
Juan Vargas.
Daniel T. Kildee.
[all]