by Jeff Sovern
The tweet reads:
Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, substantially increased. I will cut Regs but make penalties severe when caught cheating!
If the CFPB continued to be independent, as Congress intended when it created the Bureau, the president could not "make penalties severe" for violation of rules the CFPB enforces. That would be up to an independent CFPB and the courts. The president's tweet emphasizes that having the CFPB run by someone who reports to the president in his other job–OMB director–undermines the legislative goal of having an independent agency protect consumers.
