After campaigning on a promise to “drain the swamp,” Donald Trump ended his presidency by repealing his own rule designed to prevent White House officials from lobbying.
Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order banning nominees from any lobby related to his agency for five years, in addition to a lifetime ban on lobbying by a foreign government. Each Trump nominee was required to sign a pledge agreeing to these rules. But in a last-minute move early Wednesday, Trump reversed the order and allowed the revolving door in Washington to keep turning.
When Trump signed his executive order with great fanfare in 2017, he joked that some of his aides “could not go to work” after leaving his administration. But the reversal of Trump’s executive order on the last day of his term would appear to ease part of his team after the nominees struggled to find jobs in a Democratic-controlled capital.