'Free pass': Ousted watchdog head warns Trump just declared open season for fraud
A former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief warned CNN's Brianna Keilar that the Trump administration is signaling a completely free rein for big banks and other financial institutions to defraud, scam, and rip off working Americans.
Since Trump took office and dismissed Rohit Chopra, the CFPB — the post-financial crisis agency responsible for protecting consumers from financial corporate malfeasance, and an agency Republicans have long wanted to destroy — appears to be completely paralyzed, with Trump-aligned tech billionaire Elon Musk declaring the agency dead.
"As you watch what the Trump administration is doing here, why do you think they're doing it?" asked Keilar.
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"Well, I don't know," said Chopra. "I mean, we need to protect people from some of the biggest powerful corporations in America. And over the past few years, we took action so they would forfeit billions of dollars from people that they cheated. Companies like Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and more. And the truth is, people are really worried about high credit card interest rates, how they're going to pay their mortgage. We don't want to see their pocket picked. And by telling people the investigations are over, no more oversight, it just feels like a free pass to some of these big corporations to do whatever they please."
"There are partisan differences, historically, in — CFPB is pretty new, but there are differences of what CFPB's role should be, opinions on the agency," said Keilar. "Why is this different than just that?"
"Well, you know, I would say that there isn't so much partisan difference when you look at the actual work," said Chopra. "Medical bills, junk fees, protecting our personal data, it really enjoys broad support. The only place it's controversial is in Washington, and especially with the lobbyists representing Wall Street and these big companies. So, you know, here's what's different. This is in some ways a 'Defund the Police' movement that they're pushing when it comes to big corporations. The CFPB is one of the only agencies that is overseeing these very large financial institutions. And increasingly, big tech giants are wanting to control the flow of money and payments. And they, too, have been potentially wanting to interfere with the agency's operations as well."
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