Trump has granted more lobbyist waivers in 4 months than Obama did in 8 years
Violating his own ethics rules at a staggering pace.
Updated by Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesiasmatt@vox.com Jun 1, 2017, 11:00am EDT
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump presented himself as the ultimate outsider who would rid Washington of special interest corruption and “drain the swamp.” And immediately after taking office, he signed a flashy executive order tightening restrictions on lobbyists’ work in the executive branch.
But he immediately began to staff the administration with people whose work seemed, on its face, to clearly violate the terms of the order. Rather than publicly grant waivers of ethics rules with a clearly stated rationale, the White House was simply routinely waiving ethics rules in secret so nobody knew how many waivers were issued or for what purpose.
After extensive back and forth with congressional Democrats and the Office of Government Ethics, Trump has finally provided documentation, and it shows that the ethics rules are plainly meaningless. He’s granted five times as many waivers in his first four months in office as Obama did, which cover key figures in the administration like Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, and counselor Kellyanne Conway. All told, 17 waivers were granted to members of the White House staff, and we still have no idea how many waivers have been granted for other executive branch agencies or whether anyone is even keeping track.
Trump’s ethics pledge, explained:
Back in October 2016, with his poll numbers in a tailspin after the devastating revelation that he’d been caught on tape bragging about routine sexual assault, Trump unveiled a flashy series of promises to “drain the swamp” in Washington and shake up the establishment.
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https://www.vox.com/2017/6/1/15723994/trump-ethics-waivers
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Ya, right!
