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Trump Considering GOP Lawmaker Who Despises Consumer Watchdog To Head It

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) founded the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. (Photo: Getty)

Trump Considering GOP Lawmaker Who Despises Consumer Watchdog To Head It

If appointed, Neugebauer would be the latest pick that contradicts Trump's populist campaign rhetoric and promises to drain the swamp

President-elect Donald Trump is getting closer to debilitating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the watchdog agency founded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that many warned could be an early target for the incoming administration.

Trump on Wednesday met with former Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), who the Huffington Postreports is a front-runner to take over the agency if the president-elect decides to fire its current chief, Richard Cordray.

Like many of Trump's other picks for agency chiefs, Neugebauer has a track record of opposing the department. While in Congress, he opposed the CFPB on numerous rules, including the first-ever federal crackdown on payday lenders, and introduced a bill to weaken the agency.

Warren, who is known as a financial watchdog on Capitol Hill, called for the CFPB to be created in 2010 as part of a federal response to the 2008 economic crisis. As HuffPost notes, under Cordray, the agency has been able to return "$12 billion to 27 million people caught up in various scams, passed pro-consumer rules on issues like mandatory arbitration and mortgage disclosure, and hit banks for conning customers into paying for expensive add-on products that don't do much."

CFPB was also central in the investigation into Wells Fargo's checking and credit card fraud scandal last year.

If appointed, Neugebauer would be the latest pick that contradicts Trump's populist campaign rhetoric and promises to drain the swamp--which was not lost to observers.

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