Trump Nominates Brian Johnson to Lead CFPB
The nomination would place a former deputy director in charge of the agency created after the 2008 financial crisis. Johnson’s selection requires Senate confirmation.
nypost.comPresident Donald Trump announced on June 10 that he is nominating Brian Johnson to serve as the next permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Johnson previously served as the agency’s deputy director under Director Kathy Kraninger during Trump’s first term.
He left the CFPB in 2020 and later worked at Patomak Global Partners before becoming a senior executive at Capital One.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would succeed acting leadership arrangements that have been in place since Trump returned to office. Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, had been serving in an acting capacity at the CFPB, with that role set to end in August. The Senate Banking Committee will consider Johnson’s nomination.
Johnson testified before the House Financial Services Committee in 2023 that the bureau is “ripe for reform” either by Congress or internally. Johnson also testified that, properly structured and managed, the CFPB is capable of great good. Congress established the CFPB after the 2008 financial crisis to regulate consumer financial products.
The CFPB was designed to operate as an independent financial regulator with broad enforcement authority over consumer financial products and services. Much of the bureau’s recent activity has been directed at unwinding its previous work, and the agency has been largely inoperable since Trump returned to office. Sen.
Elizabeth Warren, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, issued a statement criticizing the selection. “Russ Vought can no longer serve as Donald Trump’s hatchet man at the CFPB. So here comes the next hatchet man to try to finish the job,” Warren said.
