In the early hours of his final day as president, Donald Trump rescinded his Ethics Order, allowing members of his administration to immediately become lobbyists or represent foreign countries by nullifying their ethics pledges. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Noah Bookbinder released the following statement:

“By rescinding his ethics order and letting his staffers immediately become lobbyists, the man who pledged to drain the swamp took a giant step to fill it. You don’t do things you’re proud of last-minute in the middle of the night when you hope no one is watching. This is one last cravenly corrupt act from our most cravenly corrupt president. 

Fortunately, Congress already has a plan to assure the American people that no future president can pull this bait-and-switch. The For the People Act, HR1/S1, would turn ethics pledge rules into a law, so this could not happen again. Congress should pass this important reform as one of its first orders of business, and incoming President Biden should sign it into law.“