Special Counsel Robert Mueller Is Draining The Washington Swamp

Credit: Slate

Original Article | Author: The Republican Editorials

President Donald Trump's campaign promise to "drain the swamp" in Washington is coming true. That might be the most encouraging political news of a tumultuous year.

But it's not Trump doing the draining. That task has fallen upon special counsel Robert Mueller, who is scaring the daylights out of well-heeled lobbyists from both parties and cutting into their profitable lobbying activities on behalf foreign interests.

One down: the Podesta Group was a renowned Washington lobbying firm until it announcing it was shutting down. According to the Washington Post, since Mueller's appointment, "more people and firms have either filed or amended registrations that make public their work on behalf of foreign interests than had done so over the same time period in each of at least the past 20 years."

Lobbyists and lawyers with ties to foreign governments or businesses are suddenly scrambling to adhere to public disclosure standards. Even if they don't shut down as Tony Podesta's firm is, they will finally be accountable.

In hindsight, even assuming Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" of Washington insiders was sincere, he wasn't in the best position to do it. True, the president came to office as a political outsider, but he's a legendary business insider, albeit one with an unconventional style.

Replacing one set of well-connected insiders with another doesn't drain the swamp so much as risk repopulating it with new alligators and sharks. Perhaps because he wonders how much time he'll have to swing the heavy lumber, or perhaps because he simply knows it's time to clean house, Mueller has sent shivers through the public relations and lobbying sectors with a message that its operators had better own up to what they're doing - or stop doing it.

Mueller has emerged as the most independent key player in Washington. This stumps even Trump, who can't fire Mueller without risking the two-fisted wrath of Congress - including Republicans who might see dismissal as obstruction of justice in the Russia probe and at least contemplate impeachment.

Americans have been shocked at the cozy relations between Washington operatives and foreign governments. It took the Russia controversy to bring this to light, but this mutual back-scratching society did not begin with Trump or the 2016 election, nor is it confined to either Democrats or Republicans.

Trump promised to put an end to it. Maybe Mueller will - or at least reel it in to where Americans don't have to wonder whether their own power players are doing the bidding for outside interests.