Here. Excerpts:
“There has been talk of getting rid of Cordray, but I think they're trying to figure out what they can do and what [Trump] will actually go along with,” said a person close to the administration.
Lawyers who say they’re providing guidance to the White House declined to comment for the record or be identified, citing confidences with people connected to the administration. They say they’re responding to questions from those people but won’t say who they are.
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Trump advisers are divided. One told POLITICO that the agency was on a “short list” for an overhaul and the administration isn’t convinced that Cordray would play along. Another person close to the White House said there has been no explicit call for the director’s firing.
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Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are keen to take on the CFPB. House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling has promised to rein in the bureau’s independence regardless of what Trump does. If Trump does want an excuse to fire Cordray, Hensarling and his business allies have spent years documenting what they say are the director’s missteps.
A bill introduced last month by Republican senators Deb Fischer of Nebraska, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin would replace the bureau’s independent director with a five-person commission.
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“Trump’s base, the reason he won, is because of working-class voters in Rust Belt states. They certainly benefited from the foreclosure avoidance programs at the CFPB,” said Laurence Platt, a partner at Mayer Brown * * *
The administration has spoken to Todd Zywicki, executive director of the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University, about succeeding Cordray. Zywicki, who has called the bureau a “tragic” failure, has not been offered a job.
