WASHINGTON _ Mick Mulvaney arrived at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday morning to take the reins as acting director amid a legal dispute over the leadership of the independent agency.
Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget who was tapped by President Donald Trump to be acting bureau director, arrived at the agency's headquarters about 7:20 a.m. Eastern time, according to Ed Mierzwinski of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Mulvaney made the short walk from the White House carrying a bag from Dunkin' Donuts, said Mierzwinski, who was among the first of about 30 consumer advocates and bureau supporters to arrive to protest Mulvaney's appointment.
John Czwartacki, an OMB spokesman, said Mulvaney was given access to the director's office and the staff was cooperative. Czwartacki later posted photos on Twitter of Mulvaney meeting with the bureau's senior staff and of two Dunkin' Donuts boxes with just half a doughnut left.
But Leandra English, who was promoted to deputy director Friday, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday, challenging Trump's appointment of Mulvaney as unlawful. She requested a temporary restraining order to block him from taking the position and declaring her the lawful acting director.
A decision could come on Monday.
English sent a short email to bureau staff Monday saying she hoped they had a great Thanksgiving and expressing her gratitude for their service.
"It is an honor to work with all of you," English wrote, signing the email as "acting director."
But Mulvaney reportedly also sent an email to the bureau's staff, telling them to "please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as acting director" and encouraging them to stop by the director's office on 4th floor "to say hello and grab a donut."
The White House said Sunday night that the president had the authority to appoint Mulvaney to serve as acting director until a permanent choice is nominated and confirmed by the Senate. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel agreed with the administration's interpretation of the law as did the bureau's general counsel, Mary McLeod.
McLeod reportedly sent a memo to the bureau's senior leadership team on Saturday that it was her opinion that Trump has the authority to appoint an acting director, and she advised agency personnel "to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the acting director of the CFPB."
But that position is disputed by English and other supporters of the bureau in a high-stakes battle over leadership of the financial watchdog agency that began Friday when bureau Director Richard Cordray stepped down.
Cordray promoted English, his chief of staff, to deputy director and told the bureau's staff that she would serve as acting director until Trump nominated a permanent replacement and the Senate confirmed that choice.
The Dodd-Frank Act, which created the agency in 2010, specifically states that the deputy director shall "serve as acting director in the absence or unavailability of the director."
But just hours after Cordray submitted his formal resignation, Trump named his own acting director under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
Trump's appointment of Mulvaney under the vacancy law allowed the president to designate someone who already has been confirmed by the Senate to perform acting duties.
Mulvaney would remain as OMB director while also overseeing the consumer bureau until a permanent director is confirmed and sworn in.
Senior Trump administration officials said that the 1998 law superseded the Dodd-Frank provision.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a constitutional law professor at American University's Washington College of Law, joined protesters outside the CFPB on Monday. He said that English is the rightful acting director under Dodd-Frank and Trump is trying to "destroy the independence of the bureau."
Mulvaney has been an outspoken opponent of the bureau, having once called it a "sad, sick joke." He and many Republicans, including Trump, have said the bureau has restricted consumer access to credit by being overly aggressive in pursuing financial institutions and establishing new regulations.
The bureau has provided consumers about $12 billion in refunds, mortgage principal reductions and other relief from financial institutions since opening in 2011. The bureau also played a key role in penalizing Wells Fargo & Co. for its creation of unauthorized accounts.
Raskin criticized Trump for appointing Mulvaney, saying it was part of a pattern of installing people to effectively dismantle important government departments and agencies. Raskin likened the appointment to those of Betsy DeVos as Education secretary and Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
"With Mulvaney detailed to the CFPB working alongside Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is trashing the Department of Education, and Scott Pruitt, who is ravaging the EPA, President Trump has temporarily succeeded in putting the Joker, the Riddler and the Penguin in charge of Gotham City," Raskin said.
