The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been fired by the Trump administration hours after an FBI purge saw agents who investigated the President ‘escorted out.’
Rohit Chopra acknowledged in a letter to have ‘concluded’ his term, according to a person familiar with his ousting, just hours after the President fired a cohort of FBI agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 investigations.
‘I swore an oath to a five-year term, and I will keep serving that until I can pass the baton to someone else,’ Chopra said in an interview this week, the New York Times reported.
‘I totally respect and understand that the President can choose a director of his choice.’
Republicans have been opposed to Chopra since he was appointed in 2021 by former President Joe Biden and sought his removal from the position.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, said on Tuesday that he anticipates a ‘blockbuster announcement sometime soon’ of who will take over the consumer bureau, The Times reported.
Scott previously called for Chopra’s resignation and said he was ‘no ally of consumers’.
Weston Loyd, a spokesman for the Consumer Bankers Association, said in a statement to The Times: ‘The longer Director Chopra stays, the harder it will be for this pro-growth administration to undo the politically driven, government-price setting agenda that former President Biden’s appointee has engaged in over the last several years.’
Rohit Chopra acknowledged in a letter to have ‘concluded’ his term, according to a person familiar, just hours after the President fired a cohort of FBI agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 investigations
‘I swore an oath to a five-year term, and I will keep serving that until I can pass the baton to someone else,’ Chopra said in an interview this week. ‘I totally respect and understand that the President can choose a director of his choice’
The firing of rank-and-file agents and the heads of 20 field offices was announced on Friday as those who were fired were ‘escorted out’
‘Those billions that Chopra got back for consumers meant less profit for the industry. If Trump really cared about everyday people, he’d keep Chopra around,’ said Christine Chen Zinner, a senior lawyer for Americans for Financial Reform.
Patrick McHenry, a former Republican representative, said that it was surprising Chopra had remained in the position so far but noted that Chopra and Trump had overlapping desire to curb credit card interest rates.
‘I think the message here: expect the unexpected,’ he added.
Before his approval, Chopra held one of the Democratic seats on the Federal Trade Commission. He often publicly advocated for higher penalties and enforcement against companies found to have committed wrongdoing.
Chopra’s firing comes only hours after the President purged a large number of FBI agents involved in investigations into Trump.
The firing of rank-and-file agents and the heads of 20 field offices was announced on Friday as those who were fired were ‘escorted out.’
Among those was David Sundberg, who was appointed to head the DC field in 2022.
A source familiar said agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 investigations were escorted out of the Washington Field Office.
Pictured: Boxes of documents stored in a bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in early 2021
Pictured: Documents seized during the August 8 FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate
The source added that officials in charge of the DC, Miami, Seattle, New Orleans and Las Vegas field offices were removed, The Hill reported.
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the move may have impacted ‘dozens’ of agents.
‘It is deeply alarming that the Trump administration appears to be purging dozens of the most experienced agents who are our nation’s first line of defense,’ he said, reported the outlet.
A warning was handed out to the agents prior to the purge that agents should resign within days or be fired.
The move came as Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the federal agency, faced a contentious confirmation hearing with senators where he vowed not to look backward and punish perceived rivals.
‘I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,’ Patel, who has been critical of the agency, said at his Thursday hearing.
‘There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI.’
At his hearing, Patel said he didn’t know of any plans to move or fire personnel.
Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, said: ‘I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI’
Patel strays from tradition from typical nominations for the position. In the past, nominees to lead the FBI have had extensive law enforcement experience.
Patel is known for his loyalty to Donald Trump and for his accusations against the agency, which he has accused of weaponizing its powers to target Trump.
But he told senators he believes that 98 percent of the FBI was made up of ‘courageous apolitical warriors for justice’ who ‘just need better leadership.’
He has said he will dramatically reshape the agency without offering details on what he exactly plans to do.
Trump and many Republicans believe the FBI has a bias against the president, citing the 2016 Trump-Russia probe, and the Hunter Biden investigation.
That has left hundreds of FBI agents who were assigned to investigate the January 6 insurrection and Trump’s handling of classified documents worried they could be next.
Trump has been focused on clearing out the government as he entered into office for his second term.
In particular, he’s lasered in on the Justice Department, of which the FBI is part. Trump fried several career attorneys as he moves against what he calls the ‘deep state’ he alleges is working against him.
The President also fired several inspectors general at government agencies and his executive order terminating all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs has sidelines 395 government bureaucrats.
The FBI officials given the ultimatum had been promoted under former FBI director Christopher Wray. FBI directors serve 10 years, but Wray resigned after Trump won the election and said he’d fire Wray when he takes office.