--- title: Donald Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration description: President Donald Trump signed a lifetime foreign-lobbying ban for members of his administration, as well as a 5-year ban for other lobbying canonical: https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-28T22:32:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:00:34.559Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration Officials og:description: The lobbying ban was a central component of Trump's campaign pledge to "drain the swamp" og:url: https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ae040b374428b99/6988b7bdab6d77566b6aca95/trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump Signs Executive Orders In The Oval Office og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration Officials twitter:description: The lobbying ban was a central component of Trump's campaign pledge to "drain the swamp" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ae040b374428b99/6988b7bdab6d77566b6aca95/trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration Officials > Sponsored content. 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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 [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 28, 2017 10:32 PM UTC  President Trump signs three executive actions in the Oval Office on Jan. 28, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump signs three executive actions in the Oval Office on Jan. 28, 2017 in Washington, DC.Pete Marovich—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 28, 2017 10:32 PM UTC [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4641233/donald-trump-inauguration-impeach/) signed a lifetime foreign-lobbying ban for members of his administration Saturday, as well as a five-year ban for all other lobbying. The lobbying ban was a central component of Trump’s campaign pledge to “[drain the swamp](http://time.com/4616679/donald-trump-drain-the-swamp/)” in Washington, D.C., though his commitment to the slogan has wavered. Trump has hired top donors to his campaign for administration jobs, while [relying on industry lobbyists](http://time.com/donald-trump-drain-swamp/) for both his transition and administration staff. “This was something, the five year ban, that I was talking a lot about on the campaign trail and we will now put it into effect,” Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. Speaking to reporters earlier Saturday, a senior administration official confirmed that the ban wouldn’t keep lobbyists from joining the administration. “It’s not about your past, it’s about your future,” the official said. “We want to bring on people who have extensive experience in whatever issue area they’re handling,” the official added, “and that may have included being one of the best lobbyists for the world in that area. An official said the ban represents an enforceable agreement against members of Trump’s administration unless the order is rescinded by a future president. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/"},"headline":"President Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration Officials","datePublished":"2017-01-28T22:32:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:00:34.559Z","description":"The lobbying ban was a central component of Trump's campaign pledge to \"drain the swamp\"","url":"https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ae040b374428b99/6988b7bdab6d77566b6aca95/trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ae040b374428b99/6988b7bdab6d77566b6aca95/trump25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Signs Executive Orders In The Oval Office","caption":"President Trump Signs Executive Orders In The Oval Office","creditText":"Pete Marovich—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/","name":"President Trump Signs 5-Year Lobbying Ban for Administration Officials"}}]}] ```