Warren Requests from Capital One Any Communications Between Trump’s New CFPB Nominee and Administration on Dropped Enforcement Action Against the Bank

Warren Requests from Capital One Any Communications Between Trump's New CFPB Nominee and Administration on Dropped Enforcement Action Against the Bank

Brian Johnson, Trump's new CFPB nominee, served as Vice President at Capital One at the same time the CFPB dropped its enforcement action against the bank

Text of the Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the CEO of Capital One Financial Corp. requesting communications between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Capital One executive, Brian Johnson, President Trump's latest nominee to lead the CFPB. Johnson, who previously served in senior roles at the CFPB in Trump's first Administration, was a Vice President at Capital One when the CFPB dropped a major enforcement action against the bank last year.

Under the Biden Administration, the CFPB had launched an enforcement action against Capital One for an alleged scheme to cheat its customers out of more than $2 billion in savings account interest. A month into the current Trump Administration, the CFPB dropped the lawsuit. Just a few weeks ago, Trump announced that Johnson would be nominated to lead the CFPB.

"Mr. Johnson's role at Capital One, given the CFPB's inexplicable and seemingly ill-considered decision to drop a major enforcement action against the bank, raises significant concerns related to his nomination, including questions about whether he was directly or indirectly involved in the enforcement action or in advising Capital One how to avoid responsibility for its alleged misconduct," wrote the Ranking Member.

The Ranking Member concluded: "To help us better understand Mr. Johnson's role, if any, in internal and external discussions within Capital One regarding the dropped CFPB lawsuit, and to help fulfill our responsibility to provide advice and consent about the President's nomination of Mr. Johnson to lead the CFPB, we request the following answers to our questions by no later than July 7, 2026."

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