Leandra English resigned from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), ending her efforts to gain the leadership role as the agency’s Acting Director.
English was Chief of staff to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who announced her as his temporary replacement when
he resigned last November. However, President Trump named Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as the Acting Director, citing the Vacancies Act of 1988 which empowers the President to nominate any Senate-confirmed administration official as the Acting Director of a department or agency where the leadership role is vacant. English insisted that the Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFPB Ddirector the right to choose an Acting Director, but two courts already ruled against her. English had pursued a third court ruling, which she is abandoning with her resignation.
Despite failing to receive legal recognition to her claim to be Acting Director, English continued to use that title in her interoffice communications at the CFPB and ignored
attempts by Mulvaney to communicate with her via e-mail. Several Democratic legislators—most notably, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—refused to acknowledge Mulvaney and insisted on including “Acting Director Leandra English” in their correspondence to the agency. At one point, Mulvaney claimed that he had no clue what English did at the CFPB, despite her carrying a $212,000 annual salary.
English stated that she was dropping her efforts to become Acting Director because President Trump nominated Kathy Kraninger, an OMB associate, as Cordray’s full-time successor. Kraninger is scheduled to have her Senate confirmation hearing on July 19.
"I will be stepping down from my position at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau early next week, having made this decision in light of the recent nomination of a new Director," English said in a statement issued late on Friday afternoon through her attorney. "It has been an honor to work alongside you."
