Full Text of SR0473 101st General Assembly
SR0473 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, On January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump took the oath | 3 | | of office
and became President of the United States; at that | 4 | | time, he reiterated that he
would be "A President for all | 5 | | Americans"; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, There are considerable ethical concerns in terms | 7 | | of the
election and Donald Trump's selected staff; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Our democracy is premised on the bedrock principle | 9 | | that no
one is above the law, not even the President of the | 10 | | United States; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Donald J. Trump has attempted on two separate | 12 | | occasions to
undermine this nation's Constitution by | 13 | | instituting travel bans
targeting specific ethnic and | 14 | | religious minorities; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, A recent rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim | 16 | | rhetoric and
criminal activity has been attributed to Americans | 17 | | that fervently
support the Trump administration and have noted | 18 | | that Trump's
nationalist rhetoric has emboldened them to carry | 19 | | out their hateful
missions; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, The Trump business empire has been embroiled in |
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| 1 | | questionable
business dealings, and Donald J. Trump has refused | 2 | | to release
various financial records and documents concerning | 3 | | his personal
income, along with that of his business; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, The Domestic Emoluments Clause of the United | 5 | | States
Constitution provides that, besides the fixed salary for | 6 | | his or her
four-year term, the President "shall not receive | 7 | | within that Period
any other Emolument from the United States, | 8 | | or any of them"; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, The term "emoluments" includes a broad range of | 10 | | financial
benefits, including but not limited to monetary | 11 | | payments, purchase of
goods and services even for fair market | 12 | | value, subsidies, tax breaks,
extensions of credit, and | 13 | | favorable regulatory treatment; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Leading constitutional scholars and government | 15 | | ethics experts
warned Donald J. Trump shortly after the | 16 | | November 2016 election that,
unless he fully divested his | 17 | | businesses and invested the money in
conflict-free assets or a | 18 | | blind trust, he would violate the
Constitution from the moment | 19 | | he took office; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, On January 11, 2017, nine days before his | 21 | | inauguration,
Donald J. Trump announced a plan that would, if | 22 | | carried out, remove
him from day-to-day operations of his |
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| 1 | | businesses but not eliminate
any of the ongoing flow of | 2 | | emoluments from foreign governments, state
governments, or the | 3 | | United States government; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, From the moment he took office, President Trump | 5 | | was in
violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and the | 6 | | Domestic Emoluments
Clause of the United States Constitution; | 7 | | and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in | 9 | | Washington has
filed a federal lawsuit against Donald J. Trump | 10 | | alleging that his
"business interests are creating countless | 11 | | conflicts of interest, as
well as unprecedented influence by | 12 | | foreign governments"; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, As Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to thwart
| 14 | | investigations into his personal business dealings, he has also
| 15 | | obstructed similar attempts to examine the Trump | 16 | | Administration's ties
to representatives of hostile foreign | 17 | | nations; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, In May of 2017, Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI | 19 | | Director
James Comey as Mr. Comey began to intensify the | 20 | | Bureau's investigation
into alleged Russian interference in | 21 | | the 2016 General Election and the
possibility of collaboration | 22 | | with the Trump campaign; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, During a meeting at the White House on May 10, | 2 | | 2017, Donald
J. Trump appears to have leaked highly classified | 3 | | information to
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian | 4 | | Federation Sergey Lavrov
and Ambassador of the Russian | 5 | | Federation to the United States Sergey
Kislyak; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump made a series of false claims about | 7 | | immigration, such as stating that open borders bring tremendous | 8 | | crime, while undocumented immigrants, in truth, commit crimes | 9 | | at a lower rate than U.S. citizens; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump has used fearmongering to claim that | 11 | | a wall will stop drugs from coming across the country's | 12 | | borders, when most illegal drugs come through legal points of | 13 | | entry; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump has lied to the media about his plans | 15 | | to build a wall stretching over 400 miles, while signing | 16 | | spending bills only allowing for fencing; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, More than 20 immigrants have died in ICE detention | 18 | | centers in the past two years; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump has falsely stated that the tax | 20 | | reforms he championed included the largest tax cuts ever |
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| 1 | | passed, when, in reality, the cuts are smaller than two tax | 2 | | cuts passed under Barack Obama; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump's slogan, "Make America Great | 4 | | Again," promotes white supremacy, which is a racist belief that | 5 | | white people are superior to people of other races and | 6 | | therefore should be dominant over them; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump infringed on civil rights and | 8 | | insulted service members with his ban on transgender | 9 | | individuals enlisting in the military; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump took credit for funding the Great | 11 | | Lakes Restoration Initiative after initially planning to | 12 | | eliminate it; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation | 14 | | into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election has resulted in 34 | 15 | | indictments, seven guilty pleas, and four people in prison so | 16 | | far; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, In his report, Special Counsel Robert Mueller | 18 | | documents multiple instances in which Donald Trump ordered | 19 | | others to interfere with or end his investigation; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Special Counsel Robert Mueller stated |
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| 1 | | definitively that if he had been able to clear the President of | 2 | | obstruction of justice then he would have done so; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Donald Trump has told more than 10,000 lies to the | 4 | | people of the United States; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, These violations truly undermine the integrity of | 6 | | the
Presidency, corruptly advance the personal wealth of the | 7 | | President,
and violate the public trust; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Section 4 of Article II of the United States | 9 | | Constitution
provides, that "The President, Vice President and | 10 | | all civil Officers
of the United States, shall be removed from | 11 | | Office on Impeachment for,
and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, | 12 | | or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors"; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 14 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United | 15 | | States House of Representatives to support a resolution | 16 | | authorizing and directing the House Committee on the Judiciary | 17 | | to investigate whether sufficient grounds exist for the | 18 | | impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, | 19 | | including but not limited to the violations listed herein; and | 20 | | be it further
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this
resolution be |
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| 1 | | transmitted to all members of the United States Senate,
all | 2 | | members of the United States House of Representatives, all | 3 | | members
of the Illinois General Assembly, and the Governor of | 4 | | the State of
Illinois.
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