Tipsheet

The CFPB Coup Attempt Is Over, Court Rules In Favor Of Trump Administration

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  November 28, 2017 6:00 PM

Guy and Leah have written about the drama unfolding at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. There’s been a fight over who is actually in charge. Leandra English, the deputy director of the agency, and Mick Mulvaney, the head of Office of Management and Budget Office, both are caught in a duel with one another. English says she’s acting director, while Mulvaney is emailing staffers at the CFPB, telling them to ignore her directives. A lawsuit has been filed, but Guy mentioned that this is nothing but a would-be coup by English, who should be fired for insubordination. Richard Cordray, the former head, resigned earlier this month. He’s expected to run for governor in Ohio:

As a result, there was a vacancy at the top of an executive agency.  Under the law, President Trump has the authority to fill that vacancy.  But that's not how the Left sees it.  They're arguing that the CFPB is so "independent" that the president and Congress have virtually no say over its actions or leadership decisions, which is why the outgoing director schemed to appoint his own chief of staff as his successor.  She has sued Trump and Trump's legally-installed interim director, Mick Mulvaney, claiming to be the agency's rightful leader.  She is not.

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She is attempting a lawless coup at CFPB, flouting the law in pursuit of arrogating of power and implementing a hardcore ideological agenda.She not only deserves to be deposed as fake "leader" of the agency; she should be dismissed from it altogether.  I happen to believe that CFPB is an abusive and unaccountable (and unconstitutional, according to a federal court ruling) leviathan, designed as such as left-wingers, that should be either reformed beyond recognition or shut down completely. Director Mulvaney's deep skepticism of the agency is warranted and correct.

Well, the courts have spoken—and they’re ruling in favor of the Trump administration (via Politico):

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington handed a big victory to President Donald Trump, ruling in favor of the administration in its bid to install White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Judge Timothy Kelly denied a request by Leandra English, who was named last week as acting director by outgoing CFPB chief Richard Cordray, for a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking the post. 

Kelly said there was not a substantial likelihood that the case would succeed on its merits.

“The administration applauds the Court’s decision," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement. "It’s time for the Democrats to stop enabling this brazen political stunt by a rogue employee and allow Acting Director Mulvaney to continue the Bureau’s smooth transition into an agency that truly serves to help consumers.”

Cordray weighed in on the leadership battle today on CNN:

I think it is clear in the law, which says that the director of the agency, and that was me as of Friday, has the right and the duty to appoint a deputy director, and I did, and that is Leandra English, and then it says that the deputy director shall serve as acting director when the director is unavailable as for example through a vacancy that happened when I resigned (Friday night at midnight). So I believe Leandra English is the acting director. The Trump administration has a different view. They're citing a different statute. At best these two statues are in conflict with one another, so it is in front of a court. The court took it home overnight to think about it further... and that is where it will be hashed out."

Well, it’s been hashed out. Trump won this legal round.