peacock, marcus

<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Marcus Peacock worked as a senior adviser to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for 2 1/2 months after Trump took office. Peacock, who had worked in George W. Bush’s administration as a senior official in both the OMB and the Environmental Protection Agency, helped guide Mulvaney through the Senate confirmation process and was instrumental in crafting the Trump administration’s executive order cutting two existing regulations for every new regulation.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Marcus Peacock</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A month before he left the Trump administration, Peacock requested an ethics waiver, arguing that he had “limited participation or influence on policies and decisions that would raise the types of concerns” the pledge seeks to avoid, according to a memo he sent to White House attorneys. Because his work on the executive order dealt with “process questions,” Peacock argued, it was not a specific policy action.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On April 6, 2017, two days before Peacock resigned, he received a special waiver. James Schultz, a senior associate counsel in the White House, concluded that Peacock had not “focused on specific regulations or policies.” Peacock left to become the executive vice president, the No. 2 position, at the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group for chief executives at U.S. companies.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The waiver reduced Peacock’s lobbying ban from five years to just six months. According to Senate lobbying records, Peacock is working with colleagues on federal budget process reforms, workforce development and immigration, international trade and changes to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul, among other things.</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In response to questions, the Business Roundtable noted that Peacock served at OMB for just 77 days and that he voluntarily agreed not to have any lobbying contact with OMB for six months, “more than twice the amount of time he actually worked there.”</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Peacock’s waiver has drawn the attention of officials with the Office of Government Ethics, who are reviewing waivers granted by the Trump administration. But the Business Roundtable says it has not been asked about Peacock’s waiver or lobbying.</div>