--- title: The First Steps to ‘Drain the Swamp’ description: One of the cornerstones of the President-elect's campaign was a promise to crack down on Washington special interests. While Trump has arguably violated the spirit... canonical: https://time.com/4574516/donald-trump-ethics/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-17T12:24:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:52:50.549Z article:section: Politics og:title: The First Steps to ‘Drain the Swamp’ og:description: One of the cornerstones of the President-elect's campaign was a promise to crack down on Washington special interests. While Trump has arguably violated the spirit... og:url: https://time.com/4574516/donald-trump-ethics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The First Steps to ‘Drain the Swamp’ twitter:description: One of the cornerstones of the President-elect's campaign was a promise to crack down on Washington special interests. While Trump has arguably violated the spirit... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The First Steps to 'Drain the Swamp' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 17, 2016 12:24 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Nov 17, 2016 12:24 PM UTC One of the cornerstones of the President-elect’s campaign was a promise to crack down on Washington special interests. While Trump has arguably violated the spirit of this pledge already–by naming a transition team studded with corporate lobbyists–his push for ethics-reform legislation presents a rare chance for bipartisan agreement with congressional Democrats. “The things that he said about ‘draining the swamp’ and about lobbyists,” said Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, “are things that we would tend to support.” Some steps can be done immediately by executive order, but legislation will be required to make them permanent. Here are three areas Trump has identified as priorities for ethics reform: **1 EXECUTIVE-BRANCH LOBBYING** Trump wants to impose a five-year ban on former executive-branch officials registering as lobbyists. President Obama also imposed a ban on his hires, restricting them from lobbying the executive branch for the duration of his presidency. **2 LONGER LOBBYING BANS** Trump supports barring former members of Congress and their staffs from lobbying activities until they’ve been out of government for five years. Current laws require a one-year “cooling-off period” for House members and two years for Senators. **3 FOREIGN LOBBYISTS** The President-elect says he wants to permanently block former senior employees of the executive branch from lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. Trump also wants to stop registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in U.S. elections. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4574516/donald-trump-ethics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4574516/donald-trump-ethics/"},"headline":"The First Steps to 'Drain the Swamp'","datePublished":"2016-11-17T12:24:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:52:50.549Z","description":"One of the cornerstones of the President-elect's campaign was a promise to crack down on Washington special interests. 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