Sending Office: Honorable Harley Rouda
Sent By:
Zac.Commins@mail.house.gov
Dear Colleague:
For decades, presidential administrations have maintained detailed records regarding meetings with foreign leaders, ranging from President Eisenhower’s conversations with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to President Clinton’s phone calls with Russian President
Boris Yeltsin.
However, after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two hours at the July 2017 G20 summit, President Trump reportedly took the unprecedented step of taking possession of the interpreter’s notes and instructing her to not discuss details
of the meeting with other Trump Administration officials. This extraordinary attempt to keep the contents of this conversation forever a secret is an affront to the spirit of federal law that assures the public ownership of all presidential records.
Furthermore, President Trump met privately with Vladimir Putin at the July 2018 Helsinki summit for more than two hours without the presence of aides or notetakers, accompanied only by their respective interpreters. Congress must ensure that this or any
future President cannot act in a manner that keeps Administration officials, Congress, and the American people in the dark regarding the state of our foreign relations.
My
concurrent resolution recognizes the necessity of preserving records of meetings between the President and foreign leaders for the purposes of promoting transparency and the national security of the United States. It also makes clear that such records must
be preserved under the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
If you have any questions or would like to cosponsor this resolution, please contact Zac Commins at
Zac.Commins@mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Harley Rouda
Member of Congress
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