House ethics flap raises doubts about Trump’s good-government pledge
It was Donald Trump’s mantra in the final weeks of his insurgent campaign for the presidency. At every rally, in stops all over the country, the New York billionaire repeatedly vowed to “drain the swamp” if elected, presenting himself as an anti-establishment outsider and the only person in the race who could truly change business as usual in Washington.
It was a phrase that seemed to apply to everything voters despised about the nation’s capital, including corruption in Congress and the overarching influence of lobbyists and special interests. And voters embraced it — casting their ballots for someone they viewed as a change agent who was not beholden to anyone. “I am not a politician,” Trump repeatedly insisted, to wild applause. “My only special interest is you, the American people.”
When Newt Gingrich, a close adviser, suggested late last month that Trump wouldn’t be using the “drain the swamp” slogan any longer — amid criticism that he was packing his new administration with the very establishment insiders he had railed against — the president-elect pointedly denied the claim on Twitter.
“Someone incorrectly stated that the phrase ‘DRAIN THE SWAMP’ was no longer being used by me. Actually, we will always be trying to DTS,” Trump tweeted.
But the way Trump reacted to House Republicans’ attempt late Monday to gut a key congressional ethics office renewed doubts about his commitment to the reforms he promoted so loudly during the campaign.
In a secret session, House Republicans voted to dismantle the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent panel established after a series of embarrassing scandals involving House lawmakers, including a few who went to jail. The move, opposed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, was reversed Tuesday after a storm of bipartisan criticism, including from Trump.
But it was how Trump criticized the maneuver that was notable. In a series of Twitter messages on Tuesday morning, the president-elect didn’t implicitly dispute the idea of dismantling the OCE but rather criticized the timing. Describing the congressional ethics office as “unfair,” the president-elect suggested that the move to strip it of its power was a case of misplaced priorities.
“Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance,” Trump tweeted, adding the hashtag “DTS” for “drain the swamp.”
Trump’s declaration could have been a sign that he is picking his battles with Republican lawmakers, including Ryan, whom he will need to pass his agenda.
But it also called attention to Trump’s dilemma in trying to deliver on the ethics reforms he sold so enthusiastically to voters — reforms he has rarely mentioned in the weeks since he won the White House. While he has continued to bang the drum for his pledge to “drain the swamp,” Trump has barely mentioned the policy proposals he passionately touted in the final weeks of the campaign.
Among other things, he backed stronger ethics reforms, including a five-year ban that would prevent members of Congress, their staffs and other government officials from jumping into lobbyist positions. And, in a move that earned rare praise from good-government groups, Trump urged the closing of loopholes that would allow former government officials to skirt the ban by “labeling themselves as consultants, advisers, all these different things.”
“We all know that really what they are is lobbyists, right? Make a lot of money,” Trump told supporters at an Oct. 18 rally in Colorado Springs. “There’ll be a lot of pushback on that one, but I’m going to get it through.”
Trump used the same speech to announce that he would push for a constitutional amendment on congressional term limits, an idea that had been bandied about and rejected for decades by members of Congress. He called for House members to be limited to serving just three two-year terms and senators to two six-year terms. Though he acknowledged it would be an uphill battle, he pledged to pursue the policy, describing term limits as the only way to revive a government wrecked by paralyzing political gridlock and corruption.
“We have to break the cycle of corruption, and we have to give new voices to change,” Trump declared at the time, “so that we can have a government that works again and can function properly,”
Trump’s proposal was widely rejected by lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who told reporters the day after Election Day that the Senate would not consider any term limits policy. “We have term limits now,” McConnell said. “They’re called elections.”
Trump has rarely mentioned the proposal since. And it’s unclear whether he remains committed to it and to other ethics reforms. A transition spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
But on the daily press call with transition officials, Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary, dodged the question when he was asked whether Trump believes the House should “strengthen” the independent ethics office — a policy that would seem to reflect the tough-on-ethics line that Trump the candidate touted during his campaign.
“It’s not a question of strengthening or weakening. I think it’s a question of priorities, and the president’s belief is that, with all that this country wants and … needs to have happen, this really shouldn’t be the priority,” Spicer said.
