CFPB Political Battles Will Reignite in June When Mulvaney’s Term Is Up

If a nominee is rejected, Mulvaney will serve an additional 210 days.

Because Mick Mulvaney was only appointed to the "acting director" position within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last fall, he is term-limited by law in that role to 210 days, a deadline which will come June 22.

Mulvaney, who also heads the Office of Management and Budget, could wind up staying in the position for much longer because of lesser known provisions of the same law, setting off new political battles with Senate democrats over the bureau, and offering up high-risk high-reward gambles for President Trump on the November elections.

With the "acting director" position expiring, President Trump needs to nominate someone for the actual director's position, a nomination that would need Senate confirmation.

"As soon as a nominee is put up from the Trump administration, it triggers other parts of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and will basically allow Mulvaney to serve until the Senate actually confirms somebody. And if they reject that nominee, then he gets an additional 210 days of service," said Dan Press, a consumer finance policy analyst at the free-market think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"So really, I think it sets up a massive conundrum for Democrats," Press added.

"They've got somebody in as acting director who they really dislike, and the Trump administration is probably going to put up someone else that they really dislike, so they're going to have to choose between lesser evils from their perspective, really."

Press said the upshot of these provisions of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act means Mulvaney will likely still be acting director towards the end of this year, and theoretically could be there for much longer.

The most talked about name in the rumor mill for a likely nomination to lead the bureau is Mark McWatters, currently the chairman of the National Credit Union Administration.

Mulvaney's appointment to the acting director position at the CFPB set off one of the more memorable political battles of 2017. When then-Director Richard Cordray resigned to run for governor of Ohio, he tried to handpick his own successor, appointing Deputy Director Leandra English on his way out the door.

Had Cordray been successful in that maneuver, it would have kept Obama-era loyalists in the bureau's leadership for sometime.

President Trump instead appointed Mulvaney to the acting director's position, setting off court battles. Two decisions have upheld the Mulvaney appointment, but English is appealing one of those rulings with her own set of lawyers.

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http:// freebeacon.com/issues/cfpb-political-battles-will-reignite-june-mulvaneys-term/

Trump picks 'rotten apple' motif to bomb Obama, FBI, and James Comey

President Trump committed to the "rotten apple" motif in his latest attack lodged against former President Barack Obama and the FBI.

In a tweet Sunday afternoon, Trump echoed past accusations about his predecessor wittingly choosing to do "nothing" to stop Russian meddling in the 2016 election because he thought Hillary Clinton was destined to win the contest.

"Why didn’t President Obama do something about the so-called Russian Meddling when he was told about it by the FBI before the Election? Because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win, and he didn’t want to upset the apple cart! He was in charge, not me, and did nothing," Trump tweeted.

Days prior, Trump said during a "Fox & Friends" interview that Comey, whom he fired last spring, was one of the "rotten apples" at the FBI. "The FBI is a fantastic institution, but some of the people at the top were rotten apples. James Comey was one of them," he said, before bragging: "I've done a great service for this country by getting rid of him, by firing him."

Add that to the long line of catchphrases and nicknames Trump utilizes to rally outrage among his supporters against his political enemies, including "spygate," the controversy in which Trump and his allies have raised the alarm about a potentially politically motivated FBI informant who contacted members of his campaign with ties to Russia.

Trump's sweeping offensive against the core of his law enforcement and intelligence apparatus has been waged for many months, with him escalating criticisms of Robert Mueller's Russia collusion investigation. He has long called it a "witch hunt," and more recently has questioned the foundation upon which it began.

His GOP allies in Congress are dogging a resistant Justice Depart for documents related to the genesis of the federal Russia inquiry, which was led by Comey before Mueller was appointed, as well as the FBI informant. Democrats have pushed back; leading Trump critic and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Sunday that the majority in Congress are complicit in an deceptive campaign led by Trump and spoke of the need for a "remedy": "throw the bums out."

Trump has singled out Obama in the past. For instance, in March of last year he accused his predecessor of wiretapping him. That prompted a rare response from the former president's spokesman vehemently denying the claim. On Saturday Trump focused his sights on Obama again, tweeting that the Russia investigation is "rigged" and accused Mueller of stacking his team with "angry" Democrats who worked for Obama, thus creating a conflict of interest.

Though Trump's "nothing" tweet Sunday didn't earn a rebuttal from Obama, journalists were quick to point out comments Vice President Joe Biden made in January blaming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCconnell, R-Ky., for barring the Obama administration from speaking out about Moscow's interference. He explained at a D.C. event that Obama did not want to issue a statement without a bipartisan statement of condemnation, but ultimately McConnell diffused the effort by refusing to sign on.

McConnell's countered by heralding a September 2016 letter signed by all four congressional leaders that was sent to the National Association of State Election Directors pushing for cybersecurity protections in response to reports about foreign hacking attempts, according to Politico. But Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, has said that statement, which didn't mention Russia specifically, was “dramatically watered down” at McConnell's insistence.

While there have been accounts by leading Obama figures, including the former president himself, about their efforts to stop Russia from interfering in the election. high-level Obama administration officials have said they didn't respond more forcefully to Russian hacking because they figured Clinton would win the election, and didn't think a cyber-conflict with Russia would be worth the effort.

Still, in testimony last year before the House Intelligence Committee, Obama's CIA Director John Brennan told lawmakers that he told his Russian counterpart war if Russian attempted to interfere in the 2016 election "it would destroy any near-term prospect for improvement in relations." But, he noted Russia denied any role in meddling.

Obama, for his part, conceded that he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2017 “to cut it out," in regards to hacking, although damage was already done with the emails of Democratic officials being hacked and published by WikiLeaks. After the election, the Obama administration issued new sanctions, expelled Russian diplomats, and closed two Russian diplomatic compounds in the U.S.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-picks-rotten-apple-motif-to-bomb-obama-fbi-and-james-comey

Sally Yates on ’spygate’: Trump has ‘taken the assault on the rule of law to a new level’

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by President Trump over her refusal to enforce his travel ban, called Trump’s demands for an investigation into whether the FBI spied on his campaign “truly unprecedented.”

“You know, this has really taken the assault on the rule of law to a new level,” Yates told “The Axe Files” in response to Trump’s recent tweets.

A week ago Trump demanded an investigation into whether the FBI or Department of Justice “infiltrated or surveilled” his 2016 president campaign for political purposes and whether any such orders were made by Obama administration officials. Dubbing the controversy “spygate,” Trump said it has the potential to be one of the biggest political scandals in history.

Yates said such a demand is beyond dangerous because there should be a divide between the White House and the Justice Department. “He didn’t just opine, he actually directed, and that does take things to a different and more dangerous level,” she said. “Here, it’s even a step beyond a dangerous point because it’s not just directing a criminal investigation … It directly relates to his campaign. That’s truly unprecedented.”

After Trump raised the alarm, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein asked the DOJ inspector general to review possible Trump campaign infiltration.

Trump has accused the FBI of embedding a spy in his campaign after several news outlets reported that the bureau had a confidential source in contact with three Trump associates during the election. Media reports have indicated the source was former University of Cambridge professor Stefan Halper.

Last week, DOJ and intelligence officials held briefings for top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to discuss the informant.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sally-yates-on-spygate-trump-has-taken-the-assault-on-the-rule-of-law-to-a-new-level

Kelly Sadler accuses Mercedes Schlapp of being a leaker during meeting with Trump: Report

Embattled White House communications aide Kelly Sadler accused Mercedes Schlapp, a more senior communications official, of being "one of the worst leakers" in an oval office meeting with President Trump, according to a new report.

Axios reports the open-door meeting was convened by Trump and was attended by Sadler, Schlapp, White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah, and White House chief of staff John Kelly. During the meeting, the president informed Sadler that she would not be fired for her leaked remarks joking about Sen. John McCain "dying," and then told Sadler he wanted to know who the leakers in the White House were – to which Sadler responded that she thought Schlapp was one of the worst leakers. Sadler then named other people she suspected of being leakers in White House.

Schlapp, the White House director of strategic communication, "pushed back aggressively and defended herself in the room," according to the report, and other colleagues defended her against Sadler's claim in follow up conversations.

The most recent confrontation happened after Schlapp declared "I stand with Kelly Sadler" during a close-door meeting, in response to outcry over the joke about McCain, who is battling brain cancer.

Last week it was reported that Trump is seeking to reduce the number of leaks from the White House by removing some mid-level and junior communications staffers.The most recent confrontation happened after Schlapp declared "I stand with Kelly Sadler" during a close-door meeting, in response to outcry over the joke about McCain, who is battling brain cancer.

Last week it was reported that Trump is seeking to reduce the number of leaks from the White House by removing some mid-level and junior communications staffers.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/kelly-sadler-accuses-mercedes-schlapp-of-being-a-leaker-during-meeting-with-trump-report