Dem senator: ‘Bullying, tyrannical’ Trump wants ‘dismantler, not a leader’ at CFPB

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Sunday slammed President Trump as a “tyrannical” leader who is attempting to prop up a “dismantler” rather than a leader to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

The comments come after Trump appointed White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, who has been critical of the bureau, to serve as the agency’s interim director.

“Congress had great foresight to mandate that the CFPB deputy fills the Director’s vacancy – to stop a bullying, tyrannical President from crippling the agency and undercutting consumers,” Blumenthal said in a tweet, adding in a subsequent tweet that Trump “wants a dismantler, not a leader.”

CFPB Director Cordray’s job should be filled by his deputy, as Dodd-Frank clearly requires. It supplants the older Vacancies Act. The President wants a dismantler, not a leader.

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) November 26, 2017

Trump appointed Mulvaney to lead the consumer watchdog agency on Friday — the same day exiting CFPB Director Richard Cordray, an Obama-era appointee, promoted his chief of staff Leandra English into a position that would direct the agency after he’s gone. 

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The struggle to determine which of the two dueling appointments will prevail has ignited a battle between the White House and the CFPB.

While a provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act says the deputy director of the CFPB will be named interim leader of the agency in the event the director steps down, the White House and the Justice Department on Saturday separately argued that it is within Trump’s authority to name an acting director to the CFPB. Republicans have largely supported Trump’s authority over the situation.

“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!” Trump tweeted Saturday.