Mick Mulvaney sent an email to staff Monday regarding former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray’s hand-picked replacement, completely disregarding her alleged authority.
Cordray chose his former chief of staff, Leandra English, as his replacement, but President Donald Trump, whom the Department of Justice believes has ultimate authority in the matter, named Mulvaney as the temporary head of the CFPB Friday evening. The dueling appointments have sparked a number of questions as to who is running the agency and a legal challenge of Trump’s authority.
English reportedly sent an email to staff early Monday morning, welcoming them back after Cordray’s exit Friday and signing it “acting director.” Mulvaney, who showed up to the agency Monday with a box full of donuts, wasted no time and few words in his response to English’s assertion that she is now in charge of the agency.
“Please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as Acting Director,” Mulvaney wrote in a staff-wide memo. “If you receive additional communications from her today… please inform the General Counsel.”
English filed suit against Trump and Mulvaney late Sunday to secure control of the agency, claiming she has the legal right to succeed Cordray as the interim director.
Liberal-leaning organizations are also questioning Trump’s appointment.
“Until the Senate confirms a new director, Leandra English should rightfully serve as acting director while the courts resolve the Trump administration’s attempt to sabotage her legitimacy,” Karl Frisch, executive director of consumer watchdog agency Allied Progress, wrote in a statement released to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The president should quit playing games and nominate a director who will stand up for consumers, who isn’t a creature of the very industries the CFPB regulates, and who can earn a bipartisan confirmation in the Senate,” the statement read.
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