An Obama-era agency that a senior Senate Democrat said “Wall Street hates like the devil hates holy water” will have two acting directors on Monday, after the White House countered its director’s resignation and promotion of an ally by naming its own man to take temporary charge.

One Senate Republican said the unusual situation, with each side claiming legal justification, could “end up in court”.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was set up after the financial crash of 2008 to protect ordinary Americans from abusive practices by banks, mortgage companies, pay day loan operations and debt collectors.

Its director, Richard Cordray, proved an aggressive watchdog, for example fining Wells Fargo a record amount over its misselling of bank accounts. Republicans opposed to tough regulation of the financial sector think the agency has been too aggressive. Democrats back it.

One of the architects of the legislation that created the agency, the former Massachusetts representative Barney Frank, told CNN on Saturday: “We gave a lot of attention to how to structure the CFPB and how to protect its independence, because its job is to go after some very powerful forces in the economy.

“The point is, we intend[ed] what Cordray was doing to have this kind of autonomy.”

Cordray resigned on Friday but made a play to maintain control, naming the agency’s chief of staff, Leandra English, as deputy. Under the Dodd-Frank legislation, English would thus lead it until the Senate confirmed a presidential nominee. That can take months.

Donald Trump countered by naming Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to the deputy director role. White House officials speaking to reporters on Saturday cited the Vacancies Reform Act (VRA) of 1998, and a memo by Steven Engel, the new head of the justice department’s Office of Legal Counsel, as providing the president’s authority to do so.

It’s a watchdog agency. Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water and they’re trying to put an end to it Senator Dick Durbin

Trump devoted less detail to the issue, tweeting that the CFPB had been “a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations [sic] pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!”



The argument is drawn on partisan lines. English is a longtime ally of Cordray, who is a Democrat rumoured to be considering a run for governor in Ohio. Cordray’s resignation statement highlighted English’s “in-depth” knowledge of agency operations and staff. Before joining the CFPB, she served at the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.

Mulvaney is a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, a hard-right deficit hawk and founder of the House Freedom Caucus. He was elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010 and has been an outspoken critic of the CFPB, which he called a “joke” in an interview in 2014.

One White House official said he expected Mulvaney to take charge on Monday, with English as his deputy. Senator John Thune of South Dakota agreed, telling Fox News Sunday Mulvaney “will be on the job and he’ll be calling the shots over there” but adding: “Ultimately, this may end up in court.”

Richard Cordray arrives to testify on Capitol Hill in 2014. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Other senators emphasised the depth of division. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No 2 Democrat in the Senate, told CNN’s State of the Union he had read the relevant provision in Dodd-Frank, which said: “‘When the director steps aside, the deputy director shall be in charge of the agency’, not may, shall be in charge.

“So now there’s an effort by Mick Mulvaney and the attorney general [Jeff Sessions] to push [Mulvaney] into this position so that he can take away [the CFPB’s] power.

It's the most out of control, unaccountable federal agency in Washington, they can get into anybody’s business Senator Lindsey Graham

“Remember, this was the agency that fined Wells Fargo $100m for defrauding people who were saving there and creating phoney accounts. It’s a watchdog agency. Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water and they’re trying to put an end to it.”

The South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham countered: “I think the president’s on good ground here to appoint somebody under the vacancy statute.

“[The CFPB is] the most out of control, unaccountable federal agency in Washington, really no oversight at all, they can get into anybody’s business. I don’t think they add much at all to consumer protection and they sure add a lot to increasing costs for midsize banks … that had nothing to do with the financial collapse.”

Leading figures in the House also took sides. Jeb Hensarling, Republican chair of the financial services committee, said Mulvaney would “fight not only to protect consumers from force, fraud, and deception but will protect them from government interference with competitive, innovative markets and help preserve their fundamental economic opportunities and liberties”.

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement: “All Americans should be deeply concerned about the White House’s cynical decision to flout the law and attempt to put the ringleader of its dangerous, anti-consumer protection policies in charge.”

The public deserved “a champion that protects them from predatory bankers and lenders”, she said, “not the leadership of a Wall Street pawn who denigrates consumer protection as a ‘sick, sad joke’.”