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Trump administration, Musk’s DOGE plan to fire nearly all CFPB staff and wind down agency, employees say
Employees testified that CFPB leaders and Elon Musk's DOGE want to wind down the agency to five employees, the minimum required under law.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Trump-appointed leadership plans to fire nearly all its 1,700 employees while "winding down" the agency, according to testimony from employees.
"My team was directed to assist with terminating the vast majority of CFPB employees as quickly as possible," said an employee identified as Alex Doe, a pseudonym used out of fear of retaliation.
Doe said the plan from CFPB leaders and DOGE was to cut the bureau's workforce in three phases. It would first eliminate probationary and term employees, then carry out a wave of about 1,200 layoffs, leaving a skeleton crew of a few hundred workers. "Finally, the Bureau would 'reduce altogether' within 60-90 days by terminating most of its remaining staff," Doe said.
The Trump administration's plan was to take the CFPB down to the barest minimum staffing required under law: Just five CFPB employees would remain, either in a stand-alone office or folded into another regulatory body, the workers testified.