Trump Picks Brian Johnson To Lead Embattled CFPB

President Donald Trump has picked a familiar name to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Trump on Wednesday nominated Brian Johnson, who’d previously overseen rule-making, supervision, and enforcement efforts at the agency, to be its lead. He’d need to be confirmed by the Senate and would replace Russ Vought.

The appointment signals a prospective shift in the Trump administration’s attitude toward the CFPB, created under the Dodd-Frank Act as a watchdog financial regulator after the subprime mortgage crisis.

Trump and Republicans have long criticized the agency, claiming it isn’t accountable enough to Congress. Since Trump was elected, Vought, the former Office of Management and Budget director, has throttled its activities.

Democrats have defended the CFPB, arguing it’s returned tens of billions to consumers. Experts worry its demise could leave homebuyers vulnerable. In the meantime, Trump has still turned to the CFPB amid his broader push to reform Dodd-Frank rules to encourage more small banks to return to mortgage lending.

Industry groups support nomination

Johnson served as deputy director of the CFPB under the first Trump administration. He’d previously held a Hill job as chief financial institutions counsel for the House Committee on Financial Services. After leaving government, he became managing director of a financial services regulatory consultant, Patomak Global Partners, and a senior executive at Capital One.

He’s provided some insights in the meantime, including repeatedly criticizing the CFPB for its rule-making process. Testifying, for instance, to a Senate subcommittee about “junk fees” in 2023, he took the adverse position that the agency overstepped its mandate.

The CFPB “has strayed time and again based on its own convenience in executing a political agenda that amounts to price fixing in a manner that ultimately hurts consumers and subverts the orderly function of the marketplace,” he said.

But unlike Vought, who has seemed ready to shut the agency down, Johnson has discussed refocusing the agency.

Industry groups supported Johnson’s nomination, including the American Financial Services Association and the Consumer Bankers Association.

“The CFPB is an important partner to our industry, and we will continue to work together to advance reforms that lower costs, reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, and improve access to sustainable homeownership opportunities,” Mortgage Bankers Association CEO Bob Broeksmit said.

Johnson’s nomination will also come up against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and a critic of Trump’s changes at the CFBP.

“Russ Vought can no longer legally serve as Donald Trump’s hatchet man at the CFPB. So here comes the next hatchet man to try to finish the job,” Warren said.

Tristan Navera is a senior reporter on housing policy, covering trends and solutions in the housing market from Washington, DC. He was previously a senior reporter at Bloomberg Law, and before that covered real estate for the Washington Business Journal. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade reporting on business and real estate in Dayton and Columbus, OH. A Cincinnati native, he holds a journalism degree from Ohio University.