President Donald Trump on Wednesday named Brian Johnson as his choice to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, turning to a trusted former aide and financial services executive who helped run the agency during his first term, according to the Associated Press.
Johnson served as deputy director of the CFPB under Trump’s first director, Kathy Kraninger. During Kraninger’s tenure, Johnson was known as a powerful aide who had significant leeway in deciding what the bureau should and should not work on.
After leaving the CFPB in 2020, Johnson worked at the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners and most recently held a senior executive role at Capital One, one of the country’s largest credit card issuers.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would lead the bureau for the remainder of Trump’s second term. He would inherit an agency that has been largely inoperable since Trump returned to the White House, the AP reported. Trump put his budget director, Russell Vought, in charge on an acting basis after taking office. Much of the bureau’s recent activity under Vought has been directed at unwinding the regulatory and enforcement work the bureau carried out before Trump’s return, according to the AP.
Johnson’s nomination requires Senate confirmation.