Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. – who helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the wake of the financial crisis that started in 2008 – along with Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and the Progressive Campaign Change Committee (PCCC), will hold a rally outside the CFPB headquarters in Washington, D.C., at lunchtime today demanding that “unfit” Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s pick to replace former CFPB Director Richard Codray, “step aside and let acting CFPB director Leandra English do her job.”
As Mulvaney eats his lunch, he’ll see a big crowd outside CFPB headquarters protesting his “lawbreaking,” an announcement from the PCCC states.
Some of the protestors will be holding signs that read: “Trump & Mulvaney: Breaking the law to help Wall Street,” according to the announcement.
The PCCC and its allies assert that President Trump is breaking the law by trying to install Mulvaney as the director of the agency without congressional approval.
Opponents to Mulvaney’s appointment claim that under the independent agency’s bylaws, the acting director is to be appointed internally, not by the president. Upon Cordray’s announcement that he would step down in November, the CFPB appointed Leandra English to serve as interim director.
However, Trump forged ahead and appointed Mulvaney as director on Friday. This prompted lawyers for English to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia over the weekend seeking to halt Mulvaney’s appointment.
Mulvaney, who also serves as head of the Office of Management and Budget, is named in the lawsuit.
Regardless, on Monday, Mulvaney showed up at the agency’s headquarters and began assuming his leadership duties.
This has resulted in a “showdown” of sorts, wherein it is yet to be determined who is legally director of the agency. However, as of Tuesday, Mulvaney was reportedly fully in charge.
A livestream link to today’s rally can be found here.