Should the House Ask the Trump Admin to Provide All Transcripts & Documents From the President’s Meeting With Putin? (H. Res. 1017)

What is H. Res. 1017?

(Updated October 1, 2019)

This resolution of inquiry would request information and records from the White House and the State Dept. related to the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. Specifically, it would request all relevant documents, communications, recordings, transcripts, summaries, notes, memos, and read-aheads.

A resolution of inquiry has privileged status in the House. It would allow the relevant committee 14 legislative days (congressional workdays) to address the inquiry by reporting it favorably to the House floor, reject it, or revise it. If it chooses not to act within that time period, its sponsor could discharge it (meaning it gets pulled out of committee) so that the House as a whole can then vote on it.

Argument in favor

The House needs access to all documents, records, transcripts, and notes from the meeting in Helsinki between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Argument opposed

This a petty attempt at embarrassing the president, and what’s more it violates the Constitution’s separation of powers by infringing on the president’s power to conduct diplomacy.

Impact

The White House and the State Department; and Congress.

Cost of H. Res. 1017

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) introduced this resolution to request all materials and documents used by the Trump administration in preparation for and at the summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin:

“President Trump’s meeting behind closed doors with Vladimir Putin, and his damaging and bizarre remarks following this secretive meeting, should deeply concern all Americans and move members of Congress of both parties to act. The meeting itself is concerning given Putin’s role interfering in our elections, his ongoing threat to our allies, and President Trump’s failure to confront these concerns with the response they merit. However, the secretive nature of the meeting makes it all the more disturbing, it jeopardizes Congress’ ability to oversee the executive branch and futhers important questions regarding Trump’s relationship with Putin given his interference in our election to the benefit of President Trump.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) offered a statement explaining that he opposes this resolution because it “clearly intrudes into judicially recognized areas of executive privilege” despite the fact that he “strongly disagreed with the president’s remarks in Helsinki”:

“This resolution’s broad demand for documents conflicts with the strongest form of executive privilege recognized by the courts - the so-called ‘presidential communications privilege.’ Rooted in the constitutional separation of powers, presidential communications privilege applies to direct decision-making by the president and also protects communications made, solicited or received by his advisors while preparing advice for him. These privileges are at their strongest when they deal with the president’s core constitutional powers, such as the authority to conduct diplomatic discussions with foreign leaders…

By constitutional design, we are not in the room for such discussions. We didn’t demand transcripts of every conversation President Obama had with the Russians, even after an open microphone caught him asking President Medvedev for some ‘space’ on missile defense issues, explaining that he would have ‘more flexibility’ after his November 2012 reelection.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to report this resolution unfavorably on a party-line 23-18 vote.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) Press Release
  
• House Foreign Affairs Committee