The Weekly Standard: Swamp Creatures

It’s hard to remember now, but “Drain the swamp” wasn’t always just a trite anti-elite slogan for Donald Trump. During the 2016 campaign, it was the motto of the then-candidate’s proposed ethics plan to clean up D.C.’s corrupt lobbyist class, including by forcing “consultants” and “advisers” to register as lobbyists and instituting a lifelong ban on senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government….

Its October deployment as cover for the infamous Access Hollywood tape notwithstanding, Trump’s “Drain the Swamp” plan drew wide praise from government reform advocates during the campaign. Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs for the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause, said at the time that “these are certainly steps in the right direction.”

“We were cautiously optimistic that, if he were elected, he would do some of those things,” Scherb told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday. “But it’s largely been lip service—instead of draining the swamp, the Trump administration’s unfortunately been swimming in the swamp with scandal after scandal, on a near daily basis. … We’ve been very disappointed and astounded by the number of scandals in this administration.”

Scherb agreed with the president on one point: bad lobbyist behavior is a widespread issue. “There is a larger systemic problem with underground lobbying and the number of lobbyists, people who are essentially lobbying but just not reporting under the Lobbying Disclosure Act or under the [Foreign Agents Registration Act]. You’ve seen since the Mueller investigation has started there have been quite a few firms who have retroactively filed under FARA, and I think until you see any sort of real enforcement, any kind of resources given to the Department of Justice to enforce FARA or the Lobbying Disclosure Act, we’re going to continue to see those kinds of violations.”

Of course, Manafort’s misdeeds—the tax and bank fraud, the alleged money laundering—went far beyond simply running afoul of FARA.

“Paul Manafort is one of the most egregious actors in the system,” Scherb said, “and the fact that he was so closely connected to President Trump and the Trump campaign is indicative of how poorly this administration views ethics and ethical issues.”