Executive Order on the Revocation of Executive Order 13770; January 20, 2021

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Jan 20, 2021, 09:31 AM - Edit history (2)

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Executive Order on the Revocation of Executive Order 13770

Issued on: January 20, 2021

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and sections 3301 and 7301 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Revocation. Executive Order 13770 of January 28, 2017, “Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees,” is hereby revoked, effective at noon January 20, 2021. Employees and former employees subject to the commitments in Executive Order 13770 will not be subject to those commitments after noon January 20, 2021.

Sec. 2. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 19, 2021.

{edited to add}

What is Executive Order 13770?

Executive Order 13770

{snip}

Executive Order 13770, entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees," is an executive order issued by US President Donald Trump on January 28, 2017, that directs executive branch employees on a ban from becoming a lobbyist for five years. It was revoked by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2021 through executive order.

{snip}

Purpose

Ethics Pledge. Every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after January 20, 2017, shall sign, and upon signing shall be contractually committed to, the following pledge upon becoming an appointee:

As a condition, and in consideration, of my employment in the United States Government in an appointee position invested with the public trust, I commit myself to the following obligations, which I understand are binding on me and are enforceable under law:

1. I will not, within 5 years after the termination of my employment as an appointee in any executive agency in which I am appointed to serve, engage in lobbying activities with respect to that agency.

2. If, upon my departure from the Government, I am covered by the post-employment restrictions on communicating with employees of my former executive agency set forth in section 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, I agree that I will abide by those restrictions.

{and so on}

[PA_jen]

1. Is this a normal EO? I don't remember W or Obama issuing something like that.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. "At the end of his presidency Bill Clinton did the same thing with a similar ethics EO."

Context:

In that story I wrote 4 years ago, I noted that Trump could always repeal it later. At the end of his presidency Bill Clinton did the same thing with a similar ethics EO. All of which is to say, what Trump did isn't unprecedented, but it was considered shady when Clinton did it.

Link to tweet

[PA_jen]

3. Thanks.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Hours before leaving office, Trump undoes one of the only measures he took to 'drain the swamp'

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Just after taking office in 2017, Trump signed one major order to “drain the swamp.” At 1:08 am this am, he rescinded it. No more lobbying ban for Trump aides! By
@jdawsey1

Link to tweet

Politics

Hours before leaving office, Trump undoes one of the only measures he took to ‘drain the swamp’

By Josh Dawsey
Jan. 20, 2021 at 10:19 a.m. EST

President Trump rescinded an executive order early Wednesday morning that had limited federal administration officials from lobbying the government or working for foreign countries after they leave their posts, undoing one of the few measures he had instituted to fulfill his 2016 campaign promise to “drain the swamp.”

Trump had signed the now-reversed executive order with much fanfare in an Oval Office ceremony in January 2017. ... “Most of the people standing behind me will not be able to go to work” after they leave government, Trump said at the time, flanked by senior aides.

The order required executive branch appointees to sign a pledge that they would never work as registered foreign lobbyists, and it banned them from lobbying the federal agencies where they worked for five years after leaving the government.

[How Trump abandoned his pledge to ‘drain the swamp’]

Ethics experts at the time noted the order had loopholes — but still offered cautious praise for Trump’s attempt at halting the revolving door that allows government employees to use their positions to land lucrative jobs in the private sector.

{snip}

Josh Dawsey
Josh Dawsey is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2017. He previously covered the White House for Politico, and New York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Wall Street Journal. Follow https://twitter.com/jdawsey1