Donald Trump‘s administration has notified employees at the US Consumer Protection Agency that it is temporarily closing its offices and suspending all operations, according to an email shared Monday with AFP.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting head, Russell Vought, informed staff members that the agency’s Washington office would be closed this week and asked them not to report.
“Please do not perform any work tasks,” said Vought, the creator of the conservative Project 2025 plan to restructure the federal government and the incoming director of the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Donald Trump.
Vought went on to say that employees should “stand down from performing any work task” unless they get his written consent before beginning any urgent work in the future.
Protecting American customers from corporate wrongdoing is the responsibility of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008.
The independent agency has long been accused of overreaching by Republicans, and some of Trump’s most fervent supporters, including tech billionaire Elon Musk, have called for its abolition.
The move to halt all CFPB activity and shut down its offices seems to be an attempt to limit the agency’s supervisory authority without completely closing it, which would need congressional approval.
Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat and ardent supporter of the CFPB, stated in a video message that “Congress built the CFPB, and no one other than Congress — not the president, not Musk, not Vought — can shut it down.”
