Trump Buddies Are Making Millions As Washington Lobbyists: Report
The swamp is thriving in Donald Trump’s America.
Donald Trump has presided over the biggest expansion of the DC swamp in decades. And now a new report finds that that many former campaign staffers, fundraisers and others with close ties to Donald Trump have been paid millions in lobbying fees.
An analysis by USA TODAY found that Trump allies have made “more than $2.2 million in lobbying fees in the first months of the administration.”
For example, Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard has signed 20 clients since opening his Washington office this year. And according to the USA TODAY report, “His company, Ballard Partners, has earned more than $1.1 million in a three-month period, new lobbying reports show.”
And Ballard is just one of more than a dozen Trump allies who are now taking on jobs as lobbyists and “signing up new clients this year as companies and other interests look for ways to shape policy in the Trump administration.”
Donald Trump of course repeatedly said he would “drain the swamp.” However, since taking office all of his actions have contradicted that promise.
The USA TODAY report continued to detail Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard’s growing lobbying work after the election:
Ballard’s federal clients include the private prison firm, GEO Group, which recently won a $110 million federal contract to build the first immigration-detention facility of the new administration.
In addition, Ballard’s firm has landed lucrative deals to represent two foreign interests – the ruling Socialist Party of Albania and the Dominican Republic. His firm will collect $900,000 for its one-year contract with the Dominican government and $240,000 over a year from the Albanians, according to documents filed with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has also opened up a lobbying operation and boasts about his connections to the White House.
You can read the full USA TODAY report here.
