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Surprise: Trumps Drain the Swamp Promise Was a Load of Hot Garbage
Two new reports find that Trump-connected lobbyists are thriving under his administration.
By Charlotte Klein
July 6, 2020
Lobbyists who have thrived under Donald Trumps administration continue to do so in the throes of a pandemic, according to a new report from watchdog group Public Citizen. At least 40 lobbyists with ties to Trumpthrough his campaign, his inaugural committee, his transition team, or his administrationhave either lobbied or registered to lobby on COVID-related issues, helping clients secure more than $10.5 billion in federal coronavirus aid in total. The crisis offered an especially lucrative opportunity for those lobbyists who enjoy close ties to President Donald Trump and his administrationand they seized it, noted Mike Tanglis and Taylor Lincoln, who wrote the report.
Ironically, Trump himself issued an executive order early-on in his administration that theoretically prevents former administration officials from lobbying the agency or office where they worked for a period of five years. Its also supposed to prohibit political appointees from lobbying the administration while Trump is in officeall part of his drain the swamp campaign promise. Shockingly, thats not quite how things have played out. Per the AP, at least five former members of the Trump administration are potentially in violation of the rule, including the wife of ex-White House counsel Don McGahn:
Trump-connected lobbyists are reportedly popular in helping businesses win the designation of essential or critical, a title that can allow businesses to continue operating despite the pandemic and may give them some defense against lawsuits for unreasonably endangering workers or the public, per the AP. LaundryLux, a supplier of commercial laundry machines, looked to lobbyist Brian Ballard in March, after the Department of Homeland Security did not include laundry services as an essential business to operate during the coronavirus crisis. Eight days after his firm, Ballard Partners, was hired, the DHS issued follow-up guidance deeming laundry services essential. Ballard was part of Trumps presidential transition and is the finance chair for the Republican National Committee; he has reportedly bundled more than $1 million for Trumps fundraising committees.
Lobbyists thriving under the Trump administration want to keep it that way, which is why theyre invested in getting Trump reelected. The New York Times reported that at least eight lobbyists and operatives with ties to lobbying firms are assisting Trumps campaign in various paid and unpaid capacities, like fund-raising and strategy. According to congressional and Justice Department filings analyzed by the Times, those eight have been paid a total of nearly $120 million through their firms to influence the United States government from the beginning of 2017, as Mr. Trump prepared to take office, to the end of March. Ballard, along with Texas operative Jeff Miller, are two of the top three earners of the groupneither had lobbied at the federal level until Trumps election, and, according to Public Citizen, Ballard Partners now has the most clients of all federal lobbying firms.
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https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/surprise-trumps-drain-the-swamp-promise-was-a-load-of-hot-garbage
bullimiami
(13,037 posts)Plow it under and plant a monocrop of deplorable elitists in its place
jmowreader
(50,447 posts)He was going to remove the six-foot alligators that WERE in the swamp and replace them with 12-foot alligators, piranhas and penis-eating catfish. Which, of course, he has done.
And now he can campaign on his success in removing the six-foot alligators.