Condemning the inflammatory and racially offensive statement of the President of the United States suggesting falsely a moral equivalence between the domestic terrorist act of lynching and the constitutionally provided congressional impeachment power.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 731 Condemning the inflammatory and racially offensive statement of the Presi- dent of the United States suggesting falsely a moral equivalence between the domestic terrorist act of lynching and the constitutionally provided congressional impeachment power. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 22, 2019 Ms. JACKSON LEE submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Condemning the inflammatory and racially offensive state- ment of the President of the United States suggesting falsely a moral equivalence between the domestic terrorist act of lynching and the constitutionally provided congres- sional impeachment power. Whereas in February 2014, the military of the Russia Fed- eration, without merit or cause, invaded the eastern part of the free and independent country of Ukraine, including the Donbass region and the Crimean Peninsula; Whereas the United States, a strategic ally of Ukraine, re- acted swiftly to the Russian invasion, condemning the military action in strong and bipartisan fashion, and pro- viding military, humanitarian, and non-military financial assistance to the determined but beleaguered nation of VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR731.IH HR731 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HRES 731 IH Ukraine, which since 2014 has totaled approximately $1.5 billion; Whereas in September 2019, members of the House of Rep- resentatives were alerted to a complaint filed by a whis- tleblower within the Intelligence Community alleging that on a July 25, 2019, call with the President of Ukraine, the current President of the United States sought to withhold $391 million in foreign military aid to Ukraine unless and until it announced publicly that it was cur- rently conducting corruption investigations against one of the American president’s political rivals; Whereas, on September 25, 2019, the White House released a Memorandum of Conversation in which the July 25, 2019, telephone conversation between the presidents of the United States and of Ukraine was memorialized and which corroborated in all material respects the allegations of the whistleblower; Whereas the Memorandum of Conversation released by the White House confirms that the President of the United States engaged in behavior that undermines the integrity of American elections, demeans the dignity of the office of the President of the United States, and jeopardizes the security of the United States; Whereas, on September 24, 2019, the Speaker of the House announced that the House of Representatives would com- mence an impeachment inquiry pursuant to its constitu- tional authority under article I, section 2, clause 5 to de- termine whether in connection with the July 25, 2019, telephone conversation with the President of Ukraine, the President of the United States has engaged in conduct constituting ‘‘Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes or Misdemeanors’’ as specified in article II, section 4; VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR731.IH HR731 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HRES 731 IH Whereas, on October 22, 2019, bemoaning his fate, but not regretting his conduct, the President of the United States tweeted that ‘‘All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here—a lynching,’’ thus falsely drawing a moral equivalence between the exercise of the impeach- ment power expressly and solely conferred on the House of Representatives by the Constitution and lynching, the most heinous act of domestic terrorism and symbolic of one of the darkest and most shameful periods in Amer- ica’s past; Whereas the statement asserted in the President’s tweet is false, inflammatory, racially offensive, unbecoming the Nation’s Chief Magistrate but consistent with prior state- ments the President has made to stoke to division, dis- cord, and disharmony among the American people; Whereas the current President of the United States bur- nished his political reputation by claiming falsely for more than 5 years that his predecessor was born in Kenya and not the United States and thus was an illegit- imate President; Whereas the current President of the United States launched his 2016 campaign for the Presidency said of persons from Mexico seeking to immigrate to the United States: ‘‘They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.’’; Whereas the current President of the United States claimed that a Hispanic Federal jurist could not preside over a court proceeding to which he was a defendant accused of civil fraud because ‘‘He’s a Mexican.’’; Whereas in January 2018 the current President of the United States is reported to have inquired of his advi- VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR731.IH HR731 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HRES 731 IH sors: ‘‘Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?’’, referring to persons from coun- tries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South America; Whereas, on August 15, 2017, the current President of the United States said he regarded as some ‘‘very fine peo- ple,’’ the neo-Nazis, White supremacists, and Ku Klux Klansmen who descended on the peaceful community of Charlottesville, Virginia, to advocate racism and were met by peaceful counter-protestors; Whereas in his continuous and determined effort to exacer- bate ethnic tensions and racial divisions in the body poli- tic, the current President of the United States is reveal- ing himself to be an unwitting instrument of the plan hatched in Moscow by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to interfere in the 2016 presidential cam- paign to help elect his preferred candidate and sow dis- cord and division among the American people; and Whereas statements and actions of the current President of the United States demean the office he holds and falls short of the standard set by the 16th President, whose administration was devoted to unity, healing, and ending racial division and who famously foretold in his March 4, 1861, Inaugural Address the reasons why the efforts of the current President of the United States are destined to fail: ‘‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will swell when again touched, as surely they VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR731.IH HR731 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HRES 731 IH will be, by the better angels of our nature.’’: Now, there- fore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) strongly condemns the false, inflammatory, 2 and racially offensive tweet made by the President 3 of the United States on October 22, 2019, falsely 4 drawing a moral equivalence between the exercise of 5 the impeachment power expressly and solely con- 6 ferred on the House of Representatives by the Con- 7 stitution and lynching, the most heinous act of do- 8 mestic terrorism and symbolic of one of the darkest 9 and most shameful periods in America’s past; and 10 (2) calls upon all Americans to read, celebrate, 11 and revere the Constitution of the United States, fi- 12 delity to which is the surest best means of forming 13 a more perfect union, establishing justice, ensuring 14 domestic tranquility, providing for the common de- 15 fense, promoting the general welfare, and securing 16 the blessing of liberty to them and their posterity. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:21 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR731.IH HR731 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS