Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS: President Trump removes Rohit Chopra as Director of the CFPB, (Feb 4, 2025)

By Thomas G. Wolfe, J.D.

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been designated as the CFPB’s Acting Director.

President Donald Trump has removed Rohit Chopra as the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and has designated U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the Bureau’s Acting Director to replace Mr. Chopra. In a public letter (posted on X) to President Trump acknowledging the conclusion of his term as director, Chopra underscored the importance of the CFPB’s work, the accomplishments of the Bureau during his tenure, and his gratitude for having been nominated by both Former President Joe Biden and President Trump to leadership positions in the federal government. Meanwhile, along with many consumer and community advocacy groups, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, commended Chopra for his leadership at the CFPB and/or criticized the Trump administration for Chopra’s removal.

In a brief statement, Scott Bessent, who was named Acting Director of the CFPB on January 31, said, “I look forward to working with the CFPB to advance President Trump’s agenda to lower costs for the American people and accelerate economic growth,”

Statements by Warren, Waters. In her Feb. 1, 2025, statement, Senator Warren observed that, since its founding, the CFPB “has returned over $20 billion to consumers” and has protected Americans “from junk fees, medical debt, and predatory lending.” Noting that President Trump had “campaigned on capping credit card interest rates at 10% and lowering costs for Americans,” Warren said that the Trump administration “needs a strong CFPB and a strong CFPB Director to do that.” However, “if President Trump and Republicans decide to cower to Wall Street billionaires and destroy the agency, they will have a fight on their hands,” she remarked.

Similarly, in her Feb. 1, 2025, release, Congresswoman Waters noted that, since taking the helm of the CFPB in 2021, Rohit Chopra had worked tirelessly to ensure that the Bureau fulfilled “its critical mission of protecting American families in the financial marketplace.” At the same time, Waters communicated that “President Trump’s decision to fire CFPB Director Rohit Chopra marks the end of an era of strong consumer protection and the beginning of a plan to end this important agency.” From Waters’ perspective, removing Chopra as the CFPB’s director is just the “first step” by the Trump administration and “Republican allies in Congress” to “dismantle the agency entirely, leaving consumers with no place to turn to for help and no real watchdog to hold predatory lenders and other bad actors accountable.”

Reaction by advocacy groups. On behalf of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), Christine Hines, NACA Senior Policy Director, praised Rohit Chopra for his work and leadership at the CFPB, stating that Chopra “should have been permitted to complete his five-year term.” Nevertheless, “the next CFPB director must carry on in the spirit of their predecessor’s work with diligent product monitoring and research, vigilant enforcement of existing laws, and issuance of strong safeguards to ensure all American consumers are protected,” Hines added.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) noted that, before being removed as the CFPB’s director, “Chopra still had nearly two years remaining in his five-year term.” While recognizing that each incoming president “has the right to choose a new leadership team,” PIRG Consumer Campaign Director Mike Litt commented that the CFPB, since its inception, “has secured $21 billion in relief for consumers from every part of the country and across the political spectrum … Many Americans can agree that’s a successful track record they’d like to see continue.”

Likewise, National Community Reinvestment Coalition President and CEO Jesse Van Tol remarked, “Under Director Chopra, the CFPB was everything Congress designed it to be … The next head of the CFPB should take after the example their predecessor set.”

Dennis Kelleher, President, CEO, and Co-founder of Better Markets, asserted that by “firing Director Chopra, President Trump sides with Wall Street’s biggest banks and financial firms against hard working Americans.” Moreover, Kelleher contended that President Trump’s latest action in dismissing Chopra puts the White House on the side of those “who discriminate against Main Street Americans.” “The multi-racial working-class coalition of Americans that helped elect President Trump needs a strong and effective cop on the consumer financial beat, which is what the CFPB has been under Director Chopra,” he said.

Along these same lines, Americans for Financial Reform, Consumer Reports, and Public Citizen also joined the chorus of voices praising the leadership of Rohit Chopra at the CFPB, pointing out the Bureau’s accomplishments, and stressing the importance of continuing the agency’s legacy as a “tough financial watchdog for consumers.”

Companies: Americans for Financial Reform; Better Markets; Consumer Reports; National Association of Consumer Advocates; National Community Reinvestment Coalition; Public Citizen; U.S. PIRG

News: ConsumerProtection