‘The fish rots from the head down’: Former consumer protection bureau chief fires back at Trump successor

By Renae Merle January 24 at 6:34 PM

Richard Cordray, the former head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, lashed out at his successor on Wednesday, calling Mick Mulvaney a “squatter.”

Cordray unleashed a battle for leadership of the agency in November when he stepped down and said his chief of staff Leandra English would serve as acting director in his place. Hours later, President Trump appointed Mulvaney, the White House budget director, to the job.

English has sued, arguing that she is the true acting director, but as the case makes it way through the courts, Mulvaney has taken several steps to remake the watchdog agency. In a memo to bureau staffers, Mulvaney pledged this week to tone down the CFPB’s regulatory and enforcement efforts.

“It is not appropriate for any government entity to ‘push the envelope’ when it comes into conflict with our citizens,” Mulvaney said in his memo. “The damage that we can do to people could linger for years and cost them their jobs, their savings, and their homes.”

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