Warren Delivers Remarks At Hearing Of Trump CFPB Nominee Brian Johnson

"The American people need watchdogs, not lapdogs, at the CFPB. If Mr. Johnson is confirmed, I am concerned that he will continue the cycle of corruption that is costing the American people billions of dollars."

Watch remarks at 01:36:13 here

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, delivered opening remarks at a nomination hearing for President Trump's nominee for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Brian Johnson, as well as the nominations of Irv Dennis for Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Abby Warren for Assistant Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

Transcript of Ranking Member Warren's opening statement below:

Mr. Chairman, President Trump's second term has been a failure by pretty much every count. First, the President has failed to meet his number one promise: to lower costs on Day 1. That was his promise. Second, Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in history. He is making billions of dollars on of his own shady crypto deals. Decision after decision seems designed to enrich the President, his family, or his Wall Street buddies-sometimes all three. And third, President Trump seems to be selling pardons for white collar criminals who make the right donations.

Now, Trump's government is running up costs for middle-class families and refusing to help those families when they get cheated. And today, the Committee has a full panel of nominees who will be expected to implement and defend President Donald Trump's willingness to turn his back on Americans' financial troubles.

We have Abby Warren, who's already been at the Commerce Department for over a year as the Trump Administration has rolled back export controls on advanced AI chips and undermined our national security. And Irv Dennis, who's been Acting CFO at HUD and apparently thinks he deserves the role permanently while the agency continues to illegally freeze federal housing funds.

But I want to focus in particular on Brian Johnson, President Trump's nominee to be the Director of the CFPB.

This is the only government agency that exists to look out for hard-working families who get cheated on financial products. Its only mission is to help out families that are getting ripped off by their credit card company, or unfairly charged by their banks, or scammed by payday lenders.

Last week, we had the acting CFPB head, Russ Vought, testify right here before our Committee.

And Mr. Vought-backed up by President Trump-spent 18 months trying to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

He failed. Even so, he has done plenty of damage, taking the cop off the beat, and costing American families over $26 billion. That is money directly out of the pockets of hardworking Americans.

When he couldn't kill the agency, Director Vought decided to turn it upside down-to make it work for the scammers and tricksters and anyone else willing to pay Trump and his buddies. The financial industry, the big banks, the tech firms-and their wealthy CEOs-have lined up, making millions of dollars in campaign contributions and sucking up to Trump personally with shady donations to his ballroom and his library and his other vanity projects. The payoff? Well, the fines are withdrawn. The investigations are closed. And settlements are reduced to the lightest possible slap on the wrist.

It's corruption, plain and simple, and it's costing the American people billions of dollars.

And that brings us to Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson brings his own unique baggage to this job. He has made a career out of spinning through the revolving door, shifting in and out of government jobs with stops as a well-paid hired gun for the big banks and financial firms in between.

Mr. Johnson has been at Capital One since 2024. And wouldn't you know it, in 2025, the CFPB dropped a $2 billion enforcement action against Capital One. How convenient-oh-and how profitable for Capital One. At a minimum, Mr. Johnson owes us answers on what role he played in getting that case dropped.

But more importantly, Mr. Johnson has to explain to the American people how is that they're supposed to believe, that after collecting big paychecks from giant credit card and other financial companies, he will suddenly be sticking up for middle-class families.

But for everyone who already had doubts about Mr. Johnson, Acting Director Vought testified last week and told us exactly why he should not be confirmed. The most damning thing about Mr. Johnson's nomination is that he has gotten a rousing stamp of approval from the outgoing director, Russ Vought, who spent a year and a half trying to kill the agency and who now says Mr. Johnson will,"do a great job" running it-yeah, running it- into the ground.

Mr. Chairman, the American people need watchdogs, not lapdogs, at the CFPB. If Mr. Johnson is confirmed, I am concerned that he will continue this cycle of corruption that is costing the American people billions of dollars.

And that's why I believe it would be a mistake to move forward with this nomination.

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