Richard Cordray, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), complained about “character assassination” after being asked about his private text messages during a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.
An exclusive report in the Daily Caller in January exposed Richard Cordray’s possibly illegal use of a private device to communicate about official business. Using a private device is ostensibly legal, as long as the messages are copied to an official device or backed up within 20 days of their creation.
This reporter obtained several FOIA request responses that indicated Cordray was using a private device without backing the messages up. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: CFPB Head Cordray Used Private Device, Didn’t Create Records Of Messages)
Those records also indicated connections between the CFPB and a longtime Democratic lobbyist and Clinton donor (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Exposed Richard Cordray Texts Contain Worrying CFPB-Lobbyist Connections)
Those findings were asked about at a hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine. When asked if him and other CFPB staffers were complying with the law, Cordray dodged the question several times, referring to question as a “trumped up issue.”
Exchange starts at 3:35:05:
Cordray batted away accusations that he didn’t follow the law as a “character assassination.” He also reiterated the defense that private devices may be used due to travel or having a dead battery on a smartphone.
The dead phone battery explanation was the same explanation given to TheDC in January when the story broke. When TheDC followed up by pointing out that Cordray had been conducting official business on a private device since January 2015, yet a response to a FOIA request in August 2016 indicated there are no official records of Cordray’s text messages, the CFPB did not respond.
Wednesday’s hearing also featured other Republican representatives squaring off with Cordray.
Republican Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling told Cordray, “I believe the president is clearly justified in dismissing you and I call upon the president … to do just that, and to do it immediately.”
Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters used the hearing to accuse the GOP of, “misguided attacks” on Richard Cordray.
The CFPB in under increased scrutiny, as many Republicans would like to see Cordray and even the entire agency gone. A court ruling last October found the CFPB’s structure unconstitutional, a decision that was challenged by the agency.
There is also speculation among both the left and the right that Cordray may run for governor of Ohio in 2018.