H.Res. 1186

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1186 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1186

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President 
Donald Trump, his Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, and all Federal 
officials must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the 
Constitution by immediately turning over to the Department of the 
Treasury any payments received from the United Arab Emirates or any 
other foreign state and divest from all business interests linked to 
foreign governments.

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 16, 2026

Mr. Raskin (for himself, Ms. Balint, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Castro of Texas, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Correa, Ms. Crockett, Ms. Dean of 
Pennsylvania, Ms. Dexter, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. 
Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. 
Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Lofgren, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McCollum, Mr. 
Mfume, Mr. Min, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Ms. Pingree, Ms. 
Ross, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Tlaib, and Mrs. Watson Coleman) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President 
Donald Trump, his Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, and all Federal 
officials must comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the 
Constitution by immediately turning over to the Department of the 
Treasury any payments received from the United Arab Emirates or any 
other foreign state and divest from all business interests linked to 
foreign governments.

Whereas article I, section 9, clause 8 of the United States Constitution (known 
as the ``Foreign Emoluments Clause'') provides that ``[N]o Person 
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, 
without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, 
Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or 
foreign State'';
Whereas the Office of the President of the United States is an ``Office of 
Profit or Trust under [the United States]'' and Steven Witkoff, as 
United States Special Envoy to the Middle East also holds an ``Office of 
Profit or Trust under [the United States]'';
Whereas the purpose of the Foreign Emoluments Clause is to guarantee that our 
Government officials will have an undivided fiduciary allegiance to the 
American people and no foreign powers;
Whereas George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address to the Nation, restated 
the Framers' organizing axiom of complete personal and financial loyalty 
to the American Nation for all American public servants when he warned, 
``Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence...the jealousy of a 
free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience 
prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of 
republican government.'';
Whereas President Trump has previously admitted that his foreign business 
interests presented a ``little conflict of interest'';
Whereas, on September 16, 2024, during the 2024 Presidential campaign, Donald 
Trump and Steven Witkoff launched World Liberty Financial, a 
cryptocurrency platform;
Whereas Donald Trump and Steven Witkoff are still listed under the corporate 
leadership of World Liberty Financial as ``Co-Founders Emeritus'' along 
with their children Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, Zach 
Witkoff, and Alex Witkoff, several of whom serve as company officers;
Whereas, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, 4 days before 
President Trump was sworn into office, Eric Trump signed a secret deal 
with an investment firm owned, in part, by the United Arab Emirates, 
directly selling the firm a nearly 50-percent stake in World Liberty 
Financial in exchange for a payment of $500,000,000 to be paid over a 
period of months extending into President Trump's term of office;
Whereas this $500,000,000 deal was funded, in substantial part, by ``spy 
sheikh'' Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is a member of one of the 
United Arab Emirates royal families and serves as both Deputy Ruler of 
Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates National Security Advisor, and is 
also the leader of MGX Fund Management Limited, the largest sovereign 
wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates;
Whereas the $500,000,000 payment was funneled through apparent shell entities 
intended to mask the central involvement of Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas the payment of any portion of the $500,000,000 to President Trump after 
he entered office on January 20, 2025, or to Steven Witkoff after he was 
appointed a Special Envoy, would plainly constitute a forbidden 
emolument within the meaning of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and any 
payment of any portion in expectation of favors from a prospective Trump 
Presidency would also come under the constitutional prohibition;
Whereas the United Arab Emirates, at Sheikh Tahnoon's initiative, has sought to 
become a leader in artificial intelligence, and is actively seeking to 
obtain access to semiconductor chips made in the United States;
Whereas, following this secret deal, and despite significant bipartisan concerns 
that advanced artificial intelligence-related technology might fall into 
the hands of the Chinese Government through its ties to the United Arab 
Emirates, the Trump administration has taken a series of steps that have 
advanced the objective of the United Arab Emirates of receiving 
semiconductor chips in the United States, while the Trump and Witkoff 
families have collected giant monetary payments to themselves, through 
World Liberty Financial, from Shiekh Tahnoon's business interests;
Whereas, on President Trump's first day in office of his second term and 5 days 
after the secret deal was entered into with World Liberty Financial, the 
President announced plans for a $500,000,000,000, artificial 
intelligence-focused data center venture in which Shiekh Tahnoon's MGX 
Fund was named as an investor;
Whereas, on May 15, 2025, the Trump administration committed to providing 
annually around 500,000 of the most advanced American semiconductor 
chips to the United Arab Emirates, with approximately one-fifth of those 
chips going to an entity controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas, as a result of the secret deal to sell an ownership stake in World 
Liberty Financial to investment funds backed by Sheikh Tahnoon, separate 
entities owned by the Trump and Witkoff families received immediate 
payoffs of $187,000,000 and $31,000,000, respectively;
Whereas, following this secret deal, on November 19, 2025, the Department of 
Commerce authorized the export of 35,000 advanced American semiconductor 
chips to an entity controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas President Trump and Special Envoy Witkoff accepted a foreign emolument 
without the consent of Congress as required by the Constitution;
Whereas the terms, timing, and astonishing size of the investment create the 
inescapable inference that the United States Government took 
extraordinarily swift actions to grant companies in the United Arab 
Emirates access to semiconductor chips because of President Trump's 
personal business dealings with investment entities financially backed 
by Sheikh Tahnoon;
Whereas President Trump's acceptance of foreign emoluments through his business 
relationships with investment funds financially backed by a member of 
the Government of the United Arab Emirates presents an egregious 
conflict of interest and grave risks to the national security of the 
United States, precisely the kind our Framers worked to avoid by 
building the Foreign Emoluments Clause into the Constitution; and
Whereas neither President Trump nor Special Envoy Witkoff has sought, much less 
received, the constitutionally required permission from Congress to 
accept these massive foreign emoluments: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
President Trump, Special Envoy Witkoff, and all Federal officials must 
comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause by immediately turning over 
to the Department of the Treasury any payments received directly or 
indirectly from the United Arab Emirates, their leadership, or any 
member of their royal families, or any other foreign state, and divest 
from all business interests with ties to foreign governments, including 
MGX Fund and any other investment fund or business entity linked to 
Sheikh Tahnoon or other officials of the Government of the United Arab 
Emirates.
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