Inside Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on US consumer watchdog | Trump administration

The email to finish to get a degree of employees at the best US consumers in the late hours of the night.

“Unfortunately, the agency finds that you are not appropriate to continue employment because your ability, knowledge and skills are not commensurate with the current needs of the agency,” has been informed dozens of test staff at the Consumer Protection Office (CFPB) on February 11.

For these reasons, I am unfortunately informing you that I remove you from your site [job title]With the agency and federal service [effective date]”The message from Adam Martinez, the chief official of the human capital in CFPB and witnessed by the Guardian.

CFPB has always been known as a famous agency, which has regained more than $ 21 billion to defraud Americans since its establishment in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. But now it is facing the threat To cause consumers to hunt themselves against predatory financial practices. Wide demobilization It may be on the way.

“It was really possible to lose my way to support my family as the primary breadwinner,” said one of the CFPB employees who spoke on the condition that his identity was not disclosed due to the fear of revenge. “But the chaos that occurs not only affects the office, but consumers and industry.”

The problem started earlier this month, when the newly appointed representative, Russell Vogue, released a comprehensive thing that stops all agency’s operations. The employees were directed not to perform any work tasks without an explicit written approval. The agency’s headquarters was suddenly closed, its location appeared on its dark location, and social media accounts were deleted.

A second employee told CFPB, who joined the International Financial Energy Agency before Donald Trump. “There are no administrative tasks, no exercises, we cannot do anything. We were in the middle of the exams, and we do what we do. Now there are open questions about everything.”

The freezing left both CFPB employees and financial institutions they supervise in forgetting. Continuous exams were suspended in the middle of the operation. Legal final dates are looming with no one to deal with them. Even routine consumer protection functions have a ground.

“At the present time, they are not allowed to move forward in any kind of court cases,” one of the third employees explained. “Any of these cases they receive against any type of bank will be offered, which really absorb.”

The suspension of the work came with the development: the potential installation of the monitoring program on computers, a few days before the closure, said two current employees of the Guardian newspaper.

“People are almost afraid of work.” The first CFPB employee said: “No one wants to shoot for the rebellion.”

The second employee said: “I will be open and I will be, like a mouse mouse to keep it green,” if you are very tense about what the consequences of stopping work. “

CFPB did not return a request to comment.

According to the court’s order issued on Friday, the Trump administration reached a temporary agreement for not launching any other employees at CFPB, giving workers there a retrieval at 11 o’clock.

In court, union representatives said they believe that the government is planning to cancel the CFPB, perhaps as soon as possible on the same day, the process of rejecting all the remaining employees, canceling the agency’s lease and returning its money to the Federal Reserve.

On Friday, an agreement is to stay in place until the court decided to request a preliminary judicial order to stop the Trump administration plans.

In order to agree to negotiate between the two sides and signed by the American boycott judge, Amy Berman Jackson, the Ministry of Justice also agreed that the government will not destroy or remove any of the huge quantities of consumer and commercial data that have been created over the past 12 years, or to transfer any of its available money again To the Federal Reserve.

The atmosphere of fear created by the Trump administration was not only amplified by the “Ministry of Governor’s Efficiency” team, Elon Musk, which was granted to reach the CFPB headquarters and computer systems. Hours after their arrival, Musk was published.CFPB RipWith the grave of expressive symbols on its social media platform, X.

CFPB carries huge amounts of consumer data and sensitive companies, which raises serious security concerns. The office maintains one of the largest databases in the federal government, which contains millions of detailed records on the financial struggles of the Americans, from mortgage difficulties to credit card disputes. This includes social security numbers, account details and comprehensive financial history.

“Companies provide secret business information, commercial secrets and information about consumers,” the third employee continued. “People reveal very personal and sensitive information, and it seems that there was little interest in protecting it.”

Meanwhile, the administration is preparing to reduce more dramatic. According to the legal stadiums of the Federal Workers Union on Thursday, plans are believed to be ongoing to end more than 95 % of the office employees, making it impossible for the agency to fulfill any of its legal functions.

Another legal submission from the Federation, which represents CFPB employees on Friday, seeks a judicial order to prevent further turmoil, on the pretext that Vough’s movements violate the secession of powers by obstructing the Congress State to protect American consumers.

There are fears that the potential CFPB demise will leave a huge vacuum in consumer protection. Over the years, some strong procedures for the application included a $ 120 million settlement with student loans to Naviet due to illegal practices, and a $ 175 million penalty for a Block Cash Protection application is not enough and an order of $ 3.7 billion against Wells Fargo due to poor managing automatic and mortgaging loans Mortgage and mortgages deposit accounts.

However, Trump was explicit about his intentions of the agency’s intestine. When asked if his goal was to eliminate the entire CFPB, He said to swimming press On Monday: “I would like to say, yes, because we are trying to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse.” He added, “It was very important to get rid of it.”

In addition to confusion, Trump moved to confirm his choice at the top of the International Energy Agency, and the nomination of Jonathan Mickeran, a former Federal Insurance Board of Directors.

Micakinan, who left his position only one day before his candidacy, is likely to move from a banking agency to one to one who focuses on consumer protection. Criticism of separation in the financial regulations leaving FDIC, Publishing on x He hopes to “succeed in its mission, with the opposite of organizational exaggeration in the past few years.”

The procedures come despite the overwhelming general support for financial protection. A September poll Of the Americans for financial reform showed that 91 % of voters believe it is important to organize financial services to ensure that they are fair to consumers, including 95 % of Democrats, 87 % of Republicans and 88 % of independents.

But the administration looks forward to moving forward and dismantling the agency’s infrastructure in any case. Since the future of the International Financial Supervision Agency in America is suspended in balance, its employees remain challenging.

“We are monitoring. We do this work to protect all American consumers. One of the employees said:“ It does not matter those who voted in their favor, where they live. ”What matters is that people have rights. There are laws to protect them, and we are here to do work to help protect them, and we will not be intimidated “.