Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has gained access to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and has started a thorough review of the independent government agency designed to protect consumers from corporate fraud and scams.
DOGE representatives have gained access to the internal systems, including personnel rolls and financial records of the agency, according to two sources directly familiar with their review. The agency is an outlet for Americans dealing with issues such as questionable student loan servicing practices or excessive bank overdraft fees.
According to the federal union representing some of CFPB’s employees, Musk deputies were added to the agency’s email directory and “spotted in the CFPB building” this week. According to NTEU 335, three of Musk’s representatives, Chris Young, Nikhol Rajpal, and Gavin Kilger were added to the staff directory on Friday.
Russell Vought, the new head of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, was been named by President Trump as acting head of the CFPB late Friday, according to two administration sources with knowledge of his added role.
After Musk posted “RIP CFPB” on his X social media platform on Friday the website for the independent government agency is now down with a 404 message appearing when one clicks on it. According to sources close to the administration, the onus behind the DOGE review is that the CFPB does not have Congressional oversight like other parallel agencies because it is an extension of the Federal Reserve.
During a press conference on Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Mr. Trump said he was “very proud” of DOGE’s work.
“They’re doing it at my insistence,” Mr. Trump said. “It would be a lot easier not to do it, but we have to take some of these things apart to find the corruption and we’ve found tremendous corruption.”
Last week, Mr. Trump fired Rohit Chopra, the former director of CFPB, as part of the ongoing purge of Biden administration holdovers. During his term, Mr. Trump had picked Chopra as a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission.
