Someone offered Corey Lewandowski $250,000 to get Trump to tweet about him

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last updated 30 August 2017

On Nov. 8, 2016, K Street and its clients were thrown for a loop. "Many companies want to understand: What are the president's priorities?" President Trump's onetime campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told The New York Times Magazine. "But there are so few people in Washington who have a relationship or an understanding of him."

For those that did have insight to offer, though, business boomed. Lewandowski himself had a short-lived stint at a lobbying firm he started with Trump's former aide Barry Bennett. While Lewandowski eventually got into some trouble for boasting a bit too loudly about his nearness to Trump and for failing to register as a lobbyist, he offered The New York Times Magazine a glimpse at the strange new "swamp" that exists with Trump in office:

Many of the Trump-connected lobbyists told me they were turning away as much business as they accepted. One person offered Lewandowski $250,000 just to get the president to tweet about him. A lobbyist who worked on Trump's inaugural committee told me of a billionaire who, within a week of the inauguration, offered a million dollars if the lobbyist could arrange for his picture to be taken in the Oval Office with the new president. "You can make $2 million if you want," Bennett told me, sounding almost apologetic. "It's like: 'I've got a gold mine in Eastern Europe.' Or: 'My client is suing the IRS — can you help?'" [The New York Times Magazine]

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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.

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