As a candidate, Trump regularly railed against lobbyists and led crowds in chants of “Drain the swamp!†But as president, Trump last month signed an executive order that weakened significant aspects of the Obama ethics policy, including scrapping a ban on lobbyists joining agencies they had recently lobbied.
Ethics experts say Burr’s hiring is a troubling example of how the new administration has greased the revolving door.
“A lobbyist like Burr may de-register on Monday and enter the Trump Administration on Tuesday,†said Craig Holman of the watchdog group Public Citizen. “The very same agency Burr has been lobbying as a hired gun is now Burr’s to help run. This is a grave problem for the public because the agency may well represent the special interest rather than the public interest.â€
Given that lobbyists, billionaires, major campaign donors, and Goldman Sachs executives now litter Trump’s cabinet and are either brazenly unqualified, incompetent, or ethically conflicted—or any many cases, all three at once—one wonders what Trump supporters think about his “Drain the Swamp” slogan and how it’s being fulfilled.