Corey Lewandowski says draining the swamp is 'probably somewhere down the bottom' of Trump's to-do list

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published 22 December 2016

Donald Trump has confirmed that the chant to "lock up" Hillary Clinton was nothing more than a slogan on the campaign trail and not to be taken literally. Now it looks like his promise to "drain the swamp" might also have been nothing more than a phrase with a nice ring to it.

Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told the hosts of Fox & Friends on Thursday morning that draining the swamp "is probably somewhere down the bottom" of Trump's to-do list. "I think at the end of the day, it's about the economy," Lewandowski went on. "It's about creating jobs, fixing the bad trade deals. So draining the swamp is a larger narrative, but what it's really about is putting people back to work."

It is perhaps an unsurprising about-face from Lewandowski. "Draining the swamp" is a term that "is not just about lobbying and politicians [but] also about consultants," as another former Trump campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, put it. Lewandowski announced Wednesday that he is launching a government relations and political consulting firm with former Donald Trump adviser Barry Bennet.

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But former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is serving as an adviser to the president-elect, told NPR on Wednesday that he's been informed Trump "just disclaims" the swamp slogan. "He now says it was cute, but he doesn't want to use it anymore," Gingrich said. Jeva Lange

Update 11:44 a.m.:

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.