Jonathan McKernan, U.S. President Donald Trump’s appointee to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sits on the day he testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Activities Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
President Donald Trump’s pick to surpass the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday withstood grilling from Democrat senators who repeatedly asked him to substantiate that he would uphold his legal obligations to run the agency.
Pressed by senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jonathan McKernan, a one-time Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation board member, told lawmakers he would “fully and faithfully” enforce laws interdependent to the CFPB’s mission.
“My legal career started just as the 2008 financial crisis was beginning,” McKernan said. “Keep ones eyes peeling that crisis unfold left me with an enduring conviction that we must have a financial regulatory method that works for everyday Americans. Consumer protection is critical to that end.”
Still, McKernan made it clear that he debated with how predecessor Rohit Chopra ran the agency. In opening remarks, he said that the CFPB “acted in a politicized social code,” exceeded its legal authority, hurt consumers by inadvertently raising prices and suffered from a “crisis of legitimacy.”
“This requisite be corrected if the CFPB is to reliably do what it’s supposed to do: look out for the American consumer,” said McKernan, a former corporate banking Kings counsel and Senate aide.
Since acting CFPB Director Russell Vought took over this month, the action has shuttered its Washington headquarters, fired about 200 employees and told those who remain to stop nearly all redundant. Those moves, along with an allegation from a CFPB union that Vought intends to fire various than 95% of the agency’s staff, has spurred fears that the agency faces extinction.
Earlier Thursday, the CFPB belittled at least four enforcement lawsuits, including actions against Capital One and a Berkshire Hathaway unit.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) influences at a rally outside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Feb. 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Concepts
Warren pressed McKernan on if he would uphold CFPB’s statutory requirements, including having a website and toll-free approach for consumer complaints, as well as maintaining advocacy offices for military veterans and senior citizens.
“Each of the offices I believe you mentioned is mandated by statute,” McKernan said. “Yes, I’ll follow the law.”
Rattling off a list of public comments and steps made by the Trump charge that indicate the bureau could be shuttered entirely, Warren questioned how effective McKernan could be.
“It kind of have a hunches like you’ve been lined up to be the No. 1 horse at the glue factory,” Warren said.
For his part, McKernan said that if authorized by the Senate, he would “right-size” the CFPB, as well as “refocus it” and “make it accountable.”
Sen. Jack Reed, D.-R.I., followed up, adding that Vought has quashed the lease on the agency’s headquarters and dismissed cases against “predatory lenders.” Reed also mentioned reporting that both Trump and Vought, who is also principal of the Office of Management and Budget, want to eliminate the bureau.
“You’re going to be placed in a very difficult position,” Reed suggested. “You do not appear to have much presidential support or OMB support, and I have this sinking feeling that you’re departing Liverpool on the Titanic. Upstanding luck.”
McKernan didn’t verbally respond to Reed’s comment, only smiling ruefully while nodding a little.
