The Destruction Continues – Chaffetz Plays McCarthy, CFPB Neutered

Here is today’s edition of Trump’s and the Republican’s attack on our democratic institutions. Let’s start off with the new Joe McCarthy of the current Republican Congress, Jason Chaffetz. Chaffetz apparently is not responding well to the head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Walter Schaub, and his continual criticism of Trump for not truly divesting his businesses and the Trump transition for its lack of communication and provision of documents for the OGE to do its job. Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he was transferring the management of the Trump Organization to his sons did nothing to resolve the ethical and conflict of interest concerns about Trump. Shaub was clear about that in a subsequent news conference where he said that the move had done little to insulate Trump from the “suspicions of corruption”. It should be remembered that the first move of the Republican Congress was a failed effort to gut the OGE and remove its independence. That having failed, Chaffetz is now using his chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee to engage in yet another witch hunt to intimidate Shaub. Chaffetz accuses Shaub of “blurring the line between public relations and official ethics guidance.” Chaffetz requested that Shub appear before the staff of the Committee by the end of the month. Needless to say, the Republican PR machine immediately backed up Chaffetz and provided the party line excuse for any future Republican failures as the America Rising PAC leveled its own accusations against Shaub, saying, “The American people deserve to know if Walter Shaub has turned the ethics office into an arm of the Senate Democrats’ campaign of obstruction.” As Richard Painter, George Bush’s ethics lawyer said, “They [Chaffetz and the GOP] are strong-arming them [the OGE]. They are obviously very upset the Office of Government Ethics is leaning on Trump and not willing to jam through his nominees. It is political retaliation.” It looks like Chaffetz is taking his playbook straight from that other great Republican, Joe McCarthy.

Meanwhile, Wall Street must also get its due. It is being reported that Trump is considering firing the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Richard Cordray, and replacing him with a former GOP Congressman who opposes must of the agency’s actions. The CFPB has put an end to abusive practices by payday lenders that were designed to get customers caught in a debt trap. It has cracked down on the credit reporting bureaus that were defrauding customers for years. It has tried to ban the use of forced arbitration clauses by financial firms. And it uncovered the decade-long fraud of its largely poorer customers by Wells Fargo. All in all, The CFPB has returned $12 billion to over 27 million Americans who have been ripped off by scams run by the financial industry. Trump’s new head is bound to effectively neuter the agency. In fact, he opposed the crackdown on payday lenders saying it was a “paternalistic erosion of consumer product choices”. Yes, I’m sure everyone wants to avail themselves of the opportunity to pay interest rates as high as 400% and fees that are more than the loan itself. Under Trump, the kleptocracy will be running wild.