President Trump promised during the election that he would go to Washington, D.C., to “drain the swamp.”
It’s not going as planned.
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A former Trump appointee and transition official, Robert Wasinger, who refused to sign the administration’s ethics pledge when he was still with the administration, has left the White House for a plum gig as a lobbyist.
When you drain something, you’re supposed to take away from, not add to.
“Robert Wasinger, a former Trump campaign official and transition team member, served briefly as White House liaison to the State Department before joining McGuireWoods Consulting as senior vice president of its federal public affairs group last month. Last week, he registered as a lobbyist for Verizon and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, according to filings,” according to the Washington Post.
This isn’t even a first for the Trump administration, which, by the way, is still in its first 100 days.
Wasinger is, “the second known Trump appointee who left the administration without signing a pledge to limit his lobbying activities,” the Post reported.
The former Trump appointee told the newspaper he had reasons for not signing the pledge, and for taking the lobbying gig.
He said, “he worked at the State Department for about 2½ weeks as an adviser during the early days of the administration and decided to take another job because of family obligations,” the Post reported.
“It was during one of his last days in office, he said, that Trump issued the ethics order requiring all executive branch appointees to sign a pledge that they will not lobby their agencies for five years after leaving office or lobby anyone in the executive branch for the duration of the administration,” the report added. “The order also banned appointees from ever working as lobbyists for a foreign government.”
He never signed the pledge, instead opting to leave.
That swamp is sure looking full these days.
