Republicans just decided to destroy the body that investigates corrupt politicians

House leaders vote to get rid of committee responsible for holding them to account despite calls by Donald Trump to 'drain the swamp'

Republicans, who control Congress, voted to eviscerate the oversight body despite a pledge from their president to 'drain the swamp' of Washington corruption (Getty Images)

House Republicans voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers following several bribery and corruption scandals.

The move is part of a package of rules the full House will vote on Tuesday on its first day of sitting after Christmas.

The change, proposed by Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte, means the non-partisan office will now fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee – which is run by politicians – and would now be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review.

It means "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members”, a statement from Mr Goodlatte’s office.

This would give lawmakers the final say as to whether their colleague should face criminal charges.

The new rules will also give the Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, the power to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.

House Republicans voted 119-74 in favour of the measure even though it drew notable opposition from House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Mr Ryan and Mr McCarthy failed to convince rank-and-file Republicans of the important of an independent regulator as many felt they had been unfairly targeted by the OCE.

Donald Trump with a campaign contributor in Iowa in January 2016 (Getty)

The move came ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump on as Republican president on 20th January.

On the campaign trail the billionaire former reality star had vowed to “drain the swamp” by ridding the Capitol of special interest groups, lobbyists and politicians who could be easily bought.

He claimed his rival Hillary Clinton was in the pocket of elite special interests such as Goldman Sachs as she was dependent on campaign contributions from donors whereas he was incorruptible because he was already “really rich”.

On 9th December, Mr Trump announced he had appointed the Chief Operations Officer of Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn, as his top economic adviser.

The House Minority Leader, Democrat Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi denounced the move:

"Republicans claim they want to 'drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions.

"Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."

Additional reporting by AP