House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has asked an independent legal official to investigate whether CFPB Director Richard Cordray is violating federal law against campaigning for a political position while in office.
The request is the latest in a Republican barrage against the CFPB.
In a letter to Acting Special Counsel Adam Miles, Hensarling cites press reports in Cordray's home state of Ohio that strongly suggest that the CFPB director is preparing to run for the Democratic nomination for governor.
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In his letter, Hensarling wrote that the special counsel's office has interpreted the Hatch Act against political activity to include preliminary plans to run for office.
Hensarling said according to press reports, Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill said that a mutual friend told him Cordray was planning to run. O'Neill had made it clear he would run for governor if Cordray decided to forego the race, but that he would not run against Cordray.
The friend told O'Neill that Cordray was trying to get as many projects done as possible before leaving the CFPB, according to those reports. The agency recently issued its long-awaited rules stating that financial institutions could not keep members or customers from joining a class action lawsuit against the institutions.
Hensarling said it is not clear whether Cordray had asked the friend to talk with O'Neill. But if he did, it would "be reasonably construed as evidence that he undertook a campaign to secure a nomination for partisan political office in contravention of the law."
Hensarling has been a longtime Cordray critic and has told the director that Trump should fire him.
The CFPB declined to comment on Hensarling's letter.
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