Corey Lewandowski: "Drain the swamp" is at the bottom of Donald Trump's priorities

Lewandwski is the latest to say another of Donald Trump's campaign pledges was bogus

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published December 22, 2016 4:28PM (EST)

Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump   (AP/Charlie Neibergall)
Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

Donald Trump's former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski admitted on Thursday that fulfilling his pledge to "drain the swamp" is "somewhere down at the bottom" of the president-elect's priorities.

"If you had to put them in a chronological order, drain the swamp is probably somewhere down at the bottom," Lewandowski told "Fox & Friends", adding that Trump's priorities will instead include "getting tax reform done, making sure middle-class people have more jobs, making sure we're renegotiating our bad trade deals, ensuring that we're fixing ObamaCare."

Lewandowski also admitted that the "drain the swamp" slogan was part of a "larger narrative."

The former campaign manager's remarks were similar to comments made by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Wednesday morning.
“I’m told he now just disclaims that,” Gingrich told NPR’s Rachel Martin when asked about draining the swamp. “He now says it was cute, but he doesn’t want to use it anymore.”

Gingrich also added, “I’d written what I thought was a very cute tweet about ‘the alligators are complaining,’ and somebody wrote back and said they were tired of hearing this stuff.”

Lewandowski is looking forward to working with Donald Trump's swamp. On Wednesday, the former Trump aide said that he was opening up his own consulting firm on Pennsylvania Avenue — just a block from the White House. It was also revealed that Lewandowski helped broker a dinner between Trump and Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom billionaire who has a significant interest in Washington.

 


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Corey Lewandowski Donald Trump Drain The Swamp