Workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau arrived at the office yesterday to find two acting directors asserting dueling authority and facing off over the direction of one of the nation’s financial watchdogs, the Wall Street Journal reported. The acting director appointed by the Trump administration, Mick Mulvaney, arrived a little before 7:30 Monday morning with two aides and a bag of doughnuts to work in the director’s office across the street from the White House complex. The office had been vacated on Friday by the departure of former Director Richard Cordray. Mulvaney later outlined his immediate plans to change how the bureau operates, including putting in place a 30-day freeze on the issuance of new rules and hiring. Mulvaney, who also is director of the administration’s Office of Management and Budget and is well known as a CFPB critic, introduced himself to the 1,600-member staff with a memo asking them to disregard communications from Leandra English. English, the bureau’s deputy director and Cordray’s pick as acting director, issued a legal challenge on Sunday in an effort to block Mulvaney and establish herself in the post. A new director is ultimately expected to be nominated by the administration and then face Senate confirmation.
