White House budget director plans to shut US consumer finance watchdog within months

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White House budget director Russell Vought said on Wednesday he wants to close the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau even though President Donald Trump's administration has argued in court that there is no such plan.

Vought made the remarks on "The Charlie Kirk Show" as the administration is locked in litigation with a CFPB labor union and consumer advocates over whether Trump has the authority to fire most CFPB staff or dismantle an agency created by Congress.

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Very few people currently work at the CFPB's Washington headquarters "while we close down the agency," Vought said. "So we want to put it out and we will be successful probably within the next two or three months."

Vought repeated Republican allegations that the agency had persecuted small businesses but failed to protect consumers.

"All they want to do is weaponize the tools of financial laws against basically small mom-and-pop lenders and other small financial institutions," he said.

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