Judge Halts—For Now—Trump Bloodbath at US Consumer Bureau
"Cutting over 80% of CFPB staff is not only unwise, it's a direct attack on the financial security of millions of Americans," said the National Treasury Employees Union president.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. delivered yet another blow to U.S. President Donald Trump's effort to gut the government, pausing plans to fire nearly 1,500 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees—which would leave around 200 CFPB staff.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said during a Friday hearing that she was "deeply concerned" about the plan and would be suspending the reduction in force (RIF) until she determines if it violates her previous order, according toThe Associated Press.
"I'm willing to resolve it quickly, but I'm not going to let this RIF go forward until I have," said the appointee of former President Barack Obama. She scheduled an April 28 hearing, which is set to include testimony from officials who worked on the plan.
CFPB is temporarily being led by Project 2025 architect and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. The agency is a key target of billionaire Elon Musk, the de facto chief of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In a sworn statement to the judge—submitted with the pseudonym Alex Doe due to fears of retaliation—someone on CFPB's reduction in force team said that "DOGE member Gavin Kliger managed the RIF. He kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday (April 17). Gavin was screaming at people he did not believe were working fast enough to ensure they could go out on this compressed timeline, calling them incompetent."
Doe also shared key information about CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez and Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta: "Team members raised the concern with Adam Martinez that there was a court order requiring that they do a particularized assessment, but they were told that all that mattered was the numbers. The direction to ignore the concern came from Mark Paoletta, who said that the numbers-based RIF should move forward, and that leadership would assume the risk."
"I understand that acting Director Russell Vought may have emailed Adam Martinez a similar direction," added Doe, whose declaration was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which is fighting Trump's efforts to gut the CFPB.
As the AP reported Friday:
Martinez told the judge that he believes Kliger is an Office of Personnel Management employee detailed to the CFPB and doesn't work directly for DOGE.
Jackson said she will require Kliger to attend and possibly testify at the April 28 hearing. She said she wants to know why he was there "and what he was doing."
"We're not going to decide what happened until we know what happened," Jackson said.
The NTEU was among the groups that welcomed the judge's halt on mass firings at the agency, with union president Doreen Greenwald calling the bench order "a vindication for NTEU and its members, who wholeheartedly contend that the administration's abrupt and chaotic RIF process does not serve the American people and is a deep violation of the rights of CFPB employees."
"Cutting over 80% of CFPB staff is not only unwise, it's a direct attack on the financial security of millions of Americans," Greenwald asserted. "We will continue to advocate on behalf of the American people and NTEU members in court in response to President Trump's war on civil servants and we aim to demonstrate that these frenzied, thoughtless attempts to shutter agencies that have done nothing but faithfully serve the American people are a detriment to the public good."
Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center, said in a statement that "we are gratified that Judge Jackson is not going to tolerate violation of her orders."
"The courts are the last line of defense against this administration's repeated efforts to dismantle the CFPB and clear the way for unscrupulous companies to violate the law and exploit servicemembers, veterans, and their families," Saunders stressed.
"The administration's claim that the CFPB is refocusing its priorities is a sham—the firings are an effort to completely dismantle the CFPB and to violate Congress' mandate to create a consumer watchdog and fix the gaps that led to the devastating 2007 financial crisis," she added.
"The administration's claim that the CFPB is refocusing its priorities is a sham—the firings are an effort to completely dismantle the CFPB."
Wendy Liu, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group, declared that "the Trump administration's attempt to gut the CFPB must be stopped. The court's order halting the administration's attempt at mass layoffs is critical to ensuring that the agency can continue to exist and fulfill its statutorily mandated functions."
Mike Pierce, a former CFPB official who now leads the nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center, said that "today, the courts stood between Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their illegal scheme to turn the CFPB into a hollow shell—because a watchdog that can't bark is perfect for a billionaire who can't make an honest buck."
"And let's be blunt: Musk is trying to illegally fire the federal employees who would oversee his Twitter/X payments business and already oversee Tesla's auto lending giant—and who knows what other ventures," he continued. "This chaotic, all-night RIF attempt wasn't just incompetent and unlawful, it was a confession."
"Musk knows the CFPB would crack down on his financial schemes, so he's rushing to gut the agency first," Pierce warned. "The courts saw through this today, but Trump and Musk will keep trying. They have made it their mission to encourage corporate financial fraud, no matter how many laws they break in the process. It's obvious why."
