Within days of Leandra English, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection [1] (BCFP), announcing her plan to step down from the post, the BCFP has announced her successor. Acting Director Mick Mulvaney announced that he had appointed BCFP's current Principal Policy Director, Brian Johnson as Deputy Acting Director.
“Brian Johnson is the first person I hired at the Bureau and has been an indispensable advisor,” Mulvaney said in a statement. “Brian knows the Bureau like the back of his hand. He approaches his role as a public servant with humility and unsurpassed dedication. His steady character, work ethic, and commitment to free markets and consumer choice make him exactly what our country needs at this agency.”
On Friday, English had announced that she was stepping down from her post as Deputy Director of the Bureau and dropping her lawsuit that she had filed against the bureau challenging Mulvaney's position as Acting Director. In November 2017, English, who was then Deputy Director at the bureau had challenged Mulvaney's appointment saying that the Dodd-Frank Act specified that the Deputy Director should step in as interim head.
Last week, she said that she was dropping her legal battle for the role following the nomination of Kathy Kraninger as a permanent director of BCFP. "I will be stepping down from my position at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau early next week, having made this decision in light of the recent nomination of a new director," English had said in a statement on Friday through her attorney. "It has been an honor to work alongside you."
Explaining why English was also dropping the lawsuit, her attorney Deepak Gupta had said in a statement, "Now that President Trump has decided to seek Senate confirmation of a new Director for the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Ms. English is stepping down and we intend to file court papers on Monday to bring the litigation to a close."