Trump vows to bring CFPB disaster back to life with Mulvaney

Bloomberg

A high-stakes legal clash is unfolding over President Trump’s temporary pick to run Elizabeth Warren’s favourite bank regulator, and the White House is holding its ground.
Trump said he’s naming White House budget director Mick Mulvaney to be the temporary head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The announcement came hours after outgoing CFPB Director Richard Cordray said he was tapping a deputy to run the agency on an acting basis, a move widely seen as an attempt to prevent the White House from naming a successor.
The CFPB “has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administration’s pick,” the president said on Twitter. “Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!”
With two officials having been appointed to the same post, it’s unclear who’ll be in charge of the consumer regulator’s more than 1,000 employees when they come to work. It’s possible the dispute will play out in the courts for months until a permanent successor is named and confirmed by the Senate.
Trump’s right to make a temporary appointment was backed by the Department of Justice, which said in a memo signed by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel that the president “may designate an acting director of the CFPB.”
A senior White House official said that Trump is expected to decide on a permanent replacement for Cordray in the coming weeks.
Republicans are eager to start
remaking the six-year-old
agency, which they blame for burdening banks with unnecessary rules and have criticised as being unaccountable.
Cordray, 58, appointed by former President Barack Obama, officially stepped down on Friday.