---
title: "Trump Announces Rigid Lobbying Ban"
id: "35897"
type: "post"
slug: "trump-announces-rigid-lobbying-ban"
published_at: "2016-11-21T14:30:22+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-16T18:00:04+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/11/21/trump-announces-rigid-lobbying-ban/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/11/21/trump-announces-rigid-lobbying-ban.md"
excerpt: "Last week President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said those serving in his administration must end their lobbying registrations and not lobby for five years after leaving their posts."
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  - "Ethics"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "Business"
  - "DC government"
  - "Ethics"
  - "Lobby"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "C-Level"
  - "Executive Team"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Industry Professionals"
---

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 » Trump Announces Rigid Lobbying Ban

The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump announced last week that anyone who serves in the Trump administration will need to terminate any lobbying registrations and pledge not to lobby again for five years after leaving the administration.

The policy announcement came after criticism over Trump’s inclusion of registered lobbyists on the transition team despite a campaign pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington. About a week ago, Trump put Vice President-elect Mike Pence in control of the transition.

“It goes back to Trump’s goal to make sure people aren’t using government to enrich themselves,” Trump Spokesman Sean Spicer said on a call with reporters. “The key thing for this administration is going to be that people going out of government won’t be able to use that service to enrich themselves for a five-year period.”

Spicer did not elaborate on how the post-employment ban would be enforced. By comparison, President Obama banned administration officials from contacting their former agency for two years after their departure, although they were free to lobby other parts of the government.

On the campaign trail, Trump also said he would urge Congress to impose a five-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and congressional staff. Trump has also called for expanding the definition of lobbyist to close loopholes that allow some consultants to avoid registering as lobbyists, and banning foreign lobbyists from raising money for federal candidates for office.

President-elect Donald Trump, right, and vice president-elect Mike Pence, who is heading Trump’s transition team. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

[Chris Vest, CAE](https://associationsnow.com/author/chris-vest-cae/)

Chris Vest, CAE, is director of public policy at ASAE.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/chris-vest-cae/)

Tags: [#Business](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business/)
 [#DC government](https://associationsnow.com/tag/dc-government/)
 [#Ethics](https://associationsnow.com/tag/ethics/)
 [#Lobby](https://associationsnow.com/tag/lobby/)

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