Trump Revokes His Own ‘Drain the Swamp’ Order That Barred Administration Officials From Lobbying For 5 Years

Ken MeyerJan 20th, 2021, 8:30 am
 

As President Donald Trump left office by giving last-minute pardons to scores of people, he also rescinded one of his earliest executive orders that were meant to ban his former political appointees from becoming lobbyists after leaving the government.

Back when Trump took office in 2017, one of the first executive orders he signed was the “Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees” order. The order was an ethics rule that required Executive Branch employees to pledge that they wouldn’t engage in lobbying with any federal agencies they worked for until 5 years after their employment ended.

Trump regularly blasted lobbying practices in Washington when he ran for president in 2016, and when he signed the order, it was presented to the public as part of his promise to “drain the swamp.” Trump had previously slammed former president Bill Clinton for eliminating a five-year lobbying ban before he left office, and during the signing, Trump bashed former President Barack Obama by saying his predecessor didn’t go far enough with his efforts to bar lobbying.

In Trump’s last hours as president, however, the White House announced that he was revoking the order and essentially freeing his former aides from the limitations they had on lobbying.

“Employees and former employees subject to the commitments in Executive Order 13770 will not be subject to those commitments after noon January 20, 2021,”

Watch above.

Tags: