Censuring Representative Bennie Thompson.

IV 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 479 Censuring Representative Bennie Thompson. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 7, 2023 Mr. GAETZ (for himself and Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ethics RESOLUTION Censuring Representative Bennie Thompson. Whereas, on December 30, 2022, Representative Bennie Thompson, then Chair of the Select Committee to Inves- tigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Cap- itol (‘‘January 6th Committee’’), sent a letter to the Biden White House, along with property of the House of Representatives, in violation of longstanding Rules of the House of Representatives, including the Rules for the 117th Congress; Whereas, on December 30, 2022, Representative Thompson also sent a similar letter and records to the Department of Homeland Security, also in violation of the Rules; Whereas, as a committee chair, Representative Thompson was required, under rule VII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, to turn over all committee records to VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:53 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR479.IH HR479 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 479 IH the Clerk of the House at the close of Congress, in order to further transparency and to preserve the historical record of Congress; Whereas Representative Thompson intentionally violated this rule, as evidenced by his letters to the executive branch, which expressly detail his ‘‘expectation’’ that the House property improperly turned over to the executive branch would eventually be turned over to the National Archives, an expectation that could only have salience if the mate- rials turned over were, in fact, congressional records; Whereas Congress still is unsure of the scope of the records kept or improperly destroyed by the January 6th Com- mittee, as evidenced by the May 18, 2023 letter from Representative Barry Loudermilk, chair of the Sub- committee on Oversight of the Committee on House Ad- ministration, to the National Archives requesting a cata- logue of records produced by the January 6th Committee; and Whereas, under rule VII and rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 117th and 118th Con- gresses, the responsibility to ensure proper recordkeeping by a committee resides with the committee chairperson, a responsibility that Representative Thompson inten- tionally violated or recklessly neglected: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That— 1 (1) Representative Bennie Thompson of Mis- 2 sissippi be censured; 3 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:53 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR479.IH HR479 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 479 IH (2) Representative Bennie Thompson forthwith 1 present himself in the well of the House of Rep- 2 resentatives for the pronouncement of censure; 3 (3) Representative Bennie Thompson be cen- 4 sured with the public reading of this resolution by 5 the Speaker; and 6 (4) Representative Bennie Thompson be, and is 7 hereby, removed from the Committee on Homeland 8 Security. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:53 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR479.IH HR479 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS