Dismantled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Trump shut down the consumer watchdog agency that protected Americans from predatory lending and credit card fraud. All rulemaking, investigations, and enforcement were halted. Two top officials resigned in protest.
Upon returning to office, Trump fired CFPB Director Rohit Chopra and installed Russell Vought as acting director. On February 8-9, 2025, Vought issued a stop-work order halting all rulemaking, investigations, and enforcement actions — effectively shutting down the consumer protection watchdog overnight.
The dismantling was methodical:
- CFPB headquarters was closed
- $100 million in contracts were cancelled
- The agency's funding from the Federal Reserve was cut off
- Two top CFPB officials resigned in protest
- By year's end, the CFPB announced mass furloughs and transferred remaining litigation to the DOJ
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on February 14 blocking data deletion and employee terminations, but an appeals court later allowed the dismantling to proceed.
The CFPB had been created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from the predatory lending, credit card fraud, and deceptive financial practices that caused the crisis. Dismantling it removed the primary shield between American consumers and the financial industry's worst practices.