White House Official on Kathy Kraninger: ‘What the Bureau Needs Now Is an Effective Leader’

A senior White House official defended President Trump’s nomination of Kathy Kraninger, who has no experience in banking regulation or consumer finance regulation, to become director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday, telling Breitbart News, “What the bureau needs now is an effective leader.”

Breitbart News pressed the senior White House official in a conference call for journalists Tuesday morning on both Kraninger’s qualifications and reliability should she be confirmed.

“Why does the President believe that Kraninger, with absolutely no record or experience in banking regulation or consumer finance regulation, and with a history as financial contributor to both Jeb Bush and John Kasich, will support the Trump agenda at CFPB if confirmed to a five year term as director of an independent agency from which it will be virtually impossible to fire her should she abandon that agenda?” Breitbart News asked.

The senior White House official noted in response that Kraninger is a strong advocate of free markets and limited government with a history of service.

“She has been somebody who has been an effective leader,” the official said.

“What the bureau needs now is an effective leader,” the official added, noting that CFPB acting director Mick Mulvaney has put a good policy team in place at CFPB.

The senior White House official asserted that Kraninger “has a good background in financial services already.”

She is “somebody who can work with the scores of policy experts in the bureau and lead the bureau away from” its history of overreach, the official added.

“The bureau needs an excellent and strong leader, and Kathy has a strong record in that,” the official continued.

The senior White House official noted that “Senator Shelby (R-AL) has already supporter her,” and that other senators who have strong backgrounds in banking regulation are supporting her.

The official also expressed confidence that Kraninger will demonstrate “her mastery of the subject matter involved” during Senate confirmation hearings.

“The real problem of the bureau is management. The president has made a wise choice to select someone who has managerial expertise,” the official concluded.

The White House conference call on Kraninger’s CFPB confirmation hearings came just 13 hours after President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and less than a week after the Trump administration scored another win at CFPB with former deputy director Leandra English’s announcement that she was resigning from the agency and dropping her lawsuit challenging President Trump’s appointment in November of OMB director Mick Mulvaney to serve as the controversial agency’s acting director.