Those lobby firms that had access to the White House during the Trump presidency and made a profit from it have been shut out under Biden. An by Karl Evers-Hillstrom published by the Center for Responsive Politics examines this dynamic. Here is an excerpt:
Lobbying firms that flourished under former President Donald Trump are hemorrhaging corporate clients now that Joe Biden occupies the White House.
Trump campaigned on a promise to “drain the swamp.” But his election spawned a cottage industry of lobbyists — many of whom had not lobbied in Washington before 2017 — selling access to the president. After Trump’s defeat, every one of those lobbying firms saw their earnings decline in the first three months of 2021, and some shuttered entirely.
Matthew Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and a close Trump ally, experienced a massive drop in lobbying revenue. Schlapp’s firm, Cove Strategies, received $180,000 from four clients in the first quarter 2021, according to lobbying filings released Tuesday. That’s down from $420,000 during the same period last year, and $1.1 million in the final three months of 2020, when a client paid Schlapp $750,000 to lobby Trump for a pardon. Two companies terminated their contracts with Schlapp in the first quarter, leaving him with two clients going forward.
Read the full story here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on American Democracy, our section on Money Politics, or our articles on Political Lobbying.
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