Trump revoked lifetime ban on foreign lobbying in late executive order

On his way out of Washington, President Donald Trump revoked his lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying for foreign governments, breaking a promise he had kept for years.

Trump imposed the ban shortly after entering the White House with a Jan. 28, 2017, executive order. The order established a multi-part ethics pledge that applied to all executive agency officials appointed on or after Jan. 20, 2017.

The pledge in the fourth paragraph under in Section 1 of the executive order had established the lifetime ban:

"I will not, at any time after the termination of my employment in the United States Government, engage in any activity on behalf of any foreign government or foreign political party which, were it undertaken on January 20, 2017, would require me to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended."

With that, Trump's campaign promise to issue the lobbying ban became a Promise Kept for nearly four years. But with another executive order signed on his final day in office, Trump revoked the 2017 rule, freeing his top administration officials from the foreign lobbying ban and other terms of the ethics pledge.

"Employees and former employees subject to the commitments in Executive Order 13770 will not be subject to those commitments after noon January 20, 2021," the new order said.

With that change, we rate this Trump promise as a Promise Broken.