(CNN) President Donald Trump's promise to drain the swamp of Washington, delivered repeatedly and vigorously during the 2016 campaign, turned into a pledge of honor in his inaugural address when he said he would return government back to the people.

"For too long," Trump said, "a small group in our nation's Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished -- but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered -- but the jobs left, and the factories closed. ... That all changes -- starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you."

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But the intervening year and a half of his administration has been tagged by a dizzying number of side plots, dramas, scandals, allegations and now criminal cases involving people in Trump's orbit allegedly using the organs of government to enrich themselves or running seriously afoul of ethics rules designed to protect against even the appearance of such a conflict.

This week has been especially swampy. Take your pick among:

The insider trading charges against Trump ally Rep. Chris Collins for allegedly urgently calling in stock tips to his son from a White House party about a company Collins had ties to and which he simultaneously oversaw in Congress. Collins has pleaded not guilty. The first lady's parents getting citizenship as their son-in-law aims to crack down on legal immigration. The IRS agent walking a Virginia court through the complicated alleged money laundering scheme used by Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort to clean millions he was bringing in from Ukraine. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who admitted last month to error in failing to divest assets as required under ethics rules, is now facing allegations of bilking friends and investors in a tough new Forbes report. Ross has vigorously denied those new allegations.