WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump acted Saturday to fulfill a key portion of his pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington, banning administration officials from ever lobbying the US on behalf of a foreign government and imposing a separate five-year ban on other lobbying Administration officials described the bans as historic in scope. The officials included Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior strategist Steve Bannon and counselor Kellyanne Conway. "Trump said he talked about the ban a lot during the campaign and "we're now putting it into effect. "In a separate action Saturday, Trump took steps to begin restructuring the White House National Security Council. A third action gives the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the president's top military advisers, 30 days to prepare a plan to defeat the Islamic State group.Trump had released the plan for a lobbying ban a few weeks before the November election.

Source: Times of India January 29, 2017 02:03 UTC