White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney addressed reporters after his first day on the job as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Monday

He told reporters he was instituting a 30-day hiring freeze, as well as a freeze on new rules for the same time period. At the same time, he promised that rumors that he'd set the bureau on fire or "blow it up or lock the doors are completely false," and he vowed to fulfill the provisions of the Wall Street overhaul legislation, the Dodd-Frank Act, that govern the agency.

But he had little good to say about the CFPB, calling the agency an "awful example of a bureaucracy." He also said it was "flawed" and "completely unaccountable." And, he added, "I think that's wrong."

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Mulvaney's news conference came as he fights off a challenge from someone else named to be acting director -- Deputy CFPB Director Leandra English -- who was installed by outgoing CFPB Director Richard Cordray. Mr. Trump appointed Mulvaney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.

There is a lawsuit over the dueling directors filed by English. She contends President Trump's appointment of Mulvaney is superceded by the Dodd-Frank statute governing her appointment.