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Leandra English, the new acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appointed by outgoing director Richard Cordray over the Thanksgiving weekend, has filled a key role during many of the crises that have gripped the six-year agency, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.
English was a key aide during the agency’s first, formative year in office, and she helped set up the agency with now-Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as part of the Department of the Treasury’s “implementation team” that formed the bureau.
She also saw a rapid rise within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), holding such key posts as deputy chief of staff, acting chief of staff, deputy chief operating officer and finally, as announced by Cordray last week, new acting director of the agency.
Cordray’s appointment of English appears to be an attempt to circumvent President Donald Trump’s authority to appoint the head of the CFPB.
The president, in turn, has appointed White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to serve as its acting head, and experts aren’t sure how the dueling directors will play out.
“I assume she [English] is going to show up for work tomorrow,” Alan Kaplinsky, a lawyer who has represented multiple companies before the CFPB, told The Washington Post. I assume Mulvaney will too. What are they going to do? The court option is the only practical way to deal with this issue.”