CONSUMER PROTECTION/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House on Friday [12-1-17] appointed Brian Johnson, a Republican congressional lawyer, to assist the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new interim chief, Mick Mulvaney, as he takes charge of the agency.
Mr. Johnson, an aide to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), will serve as senior adviser to Mr. Mulvaney, according to an administration official. Mr. Hensarling is Congress’s leading critic of the CFPB, an agency created under the Obama administration after the financial crisis.
Mr. Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s pick to temporarily run the CFPB, took control of the independent agency last week.
Mr. Johnson, who is senior counsel at the House Financial Services Committee, is expected to have a significant role in pushing the CFPB through the transition, with the authority to act on behalf of Mr. Mulvaney, who also serves as White House budget director.
The president appointed Mr. Mulvaney as acting director of the agency last Friday following the resignation of Richard Cordray, an Obama appointee who ran the CFPB for six years.”
-Yuka Hayashi, “White House Appoints Hensarling Aide to CFPB Role,” The Wall Street Journal online, Dec. 1, 2017 01:03pm