The choice may indicate Hillary Clinton plans an aggressive approach to for-profit colleges and student loan companies if she is elected president. | AP Photo Clinton names Warren ally to transition team

Hillary Clinton has named a progressive with close ties to Elizabeth Warren to her transition team in a move that seems aimed at mollifying liberals unhappy with earlier choices.

POLITICO has learned that Rohit Chopra, who battled for-profit colleges and loan servicers as the student loan ombudsman at the C onsumer F inancial P rotection B ureau, has joined the team.


Chopra was an early hire at the consumer agency by Warren when she led it. When he was mentioned last year as a possible candidate to become New York’s top financial regulator, he won a ringing endorsement from the Massachusetts Democrat.

Warren has been vocal about her belief that "personnel is policy," and many Democrats expect her to have an elevated voice in Clinton's transition process, including through allies like Chopra.

Bringing him onto the transition team may help quell liberals' criticism of the appointment of former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as the director. Progressives have assailed Salazar’s positions in favor of fracking and the Asia-Pacific trade deal.

The choice may also indicate Clinton plans an aggressive approach to for-profit colleges and student loan companies if she is elected president.

Chopra did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment. Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign spokesman , declined to comment, saying the campaign is not “confirming staffing at the transition.”

Since January, Chopra has been a special adviser to Education Secretary John B. King Jr., working on higher education policy.

Clinton has embraced higher education as a major issue in the campaign. In the lead-up to the Democratic convention, she adjusted her “college compact” college plan to bring it closer to Bernie Sanders’ by promising to provide free education at public colleges and universities to students from families making up to $125,000.

Chopra leaves the Education Department as it takes actions that could cripple ITT Tech, one of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges, by prohibiting it from enrolling new students using federal financial aid. Chopra is a longtime critic of ITT Tech, and he warned its investors in a letter that the for-profit college was “not well situated for survival,” during a short stint at the Center for American Progress, where he worked after the CFPB.

An Education Department official said Tuesday that Chopra’s contract recently ended. In a statement to POLITICO, Undersecretary of Education Ted Mitchell called Chopra a “critical part of helping the Department sharpen its focus on protecting students, increasing institutional accountability and helping borrowers succeed.”

“All of us at the Department will miss him and know that students and borrowers across the country have benefited from his service,” Mitchell said.

Gabriel Debenedetti contributed to this report.