FIRST ON FOX: Three leaders at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were placed on administrative leave Tuesday, Fox News Digital confirmed.
The Office of Management and Budget’s Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta placed Lorelei Salas, the CFPB’s supervision director, and Eric Halperin, the agency’s enforcement chief, and Zixta Martinez, the agency’s deputy director, on administrative leave, a CFPB spokesperson told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
The resignations come after acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, told employees of CFPB on Monday to not report to work and to “get approval in writing before performing any work tasks.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent briefly served as acting CFPB director before Vought earlier in February, and had also told staffers to halt their work “unless expressly approved by the Acting Director or required by law.”
The CFPB spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Halperin defied Bessent’s order and resigned in response to being placed on leave Tuesday. Halperin was made aware of his leave via an email and responded six minutes later that he was resigning, the New York Post reported earlier Tuesday.
“I write to provide notice of my resignation… Since the building is closed, please provide instructions on how to return my equipment,” Halperin reportedly responded to the email. “Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It was an honor.”
Salas also “sent out an email blast” in response to the notification she also was placed on leave, but did not officially file her resignation, the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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The pair is claiming to reporters that they resigned, as opposed to being placed on leave, to “try and save face,” the spox added.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Salas and Halperin told Fox Digital that the Trump administration was working to “sideline” government employees.
“As we’ve seen many times already, Trump and Musk are trying to sideline dedicated public servants who won’t go along with their plans to break the law,” the spokesperson said. “CFPB staff have a responsibility to protect consumers, and that includes upholding longstanding laws on the books.”
Both Halperin and Salas have ties to left-wing billionaire George Soros’ nonprofit, the Open Society Foundation, a CFPB press release from 2021 shows. Halperin served as a senior advisor to Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Program, his biography in a CFPB press release states, while Salas received a government fellowship from the Open Society Foundations.
The CFPB is an independent government agency charged with protecting consumers from unfair financial practices in the private sector. It was created in 2010 under the Obama administration following the financial crash in 2008.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has been investigating various federal agencies in February in search of finding and eliminating government overspending, fraud and corruption.
On Friday, Musk posted a message on X, reading, “CFPB RIP,” building anticipation that the agency was the next to face investigation.
Protests have since been staged outside of the of CFPB headquarters in Washington, including Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed the agency, declaring on the streets, “We are here to fight back.”
“This is like a bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarm just before he strolls into the lobby,” Warren told the crowd on Monday.
“The financial cops, the CFPB, are there to make sure that Elon’s new project can’t scam you or steal your sensitive personal data,” Warren said. “So Elon’s solution, get rid of the cops, kill the CFPB.”
