Trump’s War on Oversight: Big Banks Win, Working Families Lose

This week, The Trump administration doubled down on his reckless agenda of gutting checks and balances and oversight to make it easier for Trump and his billionaire backers to line their pockets. The Administration dealt its latest blow to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)– the consumer watchdog agency that looks out for vulnerable consumers and holds the big banks and financial companies accountable when they illegally take advantage of Americans– 70 CFPB employees were fired overnight and Trump-appointed financial industry favorite Jonathan McKernan to lead the agency.

It’s no surprise that big banks are cheering on the move – the CFPB has put billions back into the pockets of hard-working Americans. Without it, there is no oversight of wealthy financial companies trying to scam consumers. Even more, Trump’s inner circle, including Elon Musk, has regulatory matters before the agency and stand to directly benefit.

While it’s clear that Trump and his backers’ pocketbooks are being handled with care, his actions show his intent to drive up costs for everyone else. Trump marched toward more devastating tariffs, which would skyrocket costs on everything from groceries to cars to housing, with one economic expert calling the measures “inflationary” and “anti-growth.” That’s on top of the “major health care cuts” the Administration and Republicans are eyeing – in addition to their power grab to gut cancer research, create uncertainty for Head Start child care centers, and axe funding for ensuring academic achievement in schools.

Red flags continue to pile up on Trump’s nominees and cabinet:

Senate Republicans put public health at risk with RFK Jr. confirmation: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is among the last people who should be leading the Department of Health and Human Services – with his non-existent health policy credentials, embrace of absurd conspiracies, and severe misjudgment, which led him to face investigation for committing a felony for voting fraud. But instead of protecting public health, Republican Senators bowed to Trump by confirming RFK Jr., who has vowed to end funding research for treatments and cures to deadly diseases.

Republican Senate shrugs at protecting our national security, falls in line with Trump to confirm Tulsi Gabbard: Despite Tulsi Gabbard’s record of cozying up to foreign adversaries, spreading their propaganda, and having alarmingly little experience in intelligence, that didn’t stop the Republican Senate from putting their fealty to Trump over well-documented concerns about Gabbard’s judgment and the threat it poses to our national security. In addition to Gabbard’s “secret” 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad despite the Assad regime deploying chemical weapons against Syrian citizens in 2013 and her reputation for repeatedly parroting Russian propaganda, a recent Accountable.US report revealed her deep financial ties to a GOP campaign operative at the center of multiple campaign finance violations, dark money networks, and election scandals.
Project 2025 Architect and Oil Lobbyist Kathleen Sgamma Nominated to Oversee Public Lands: After Trump received record donations from the oil and gas industry during his campaign, he returned the favor by appointing big oil trade group executive Kathleen Sgamma to run the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and oversee America’s vast public lands and waters. Sgamma co-authored Project 2025’s chapter on energy policy which has been called a how-to manual for turning millions of acres of public lands into a ‘playground for extractive industries’. Sgamma’s nomination is just the latest step in Trump’s Project 2025 playbook. She joins at least six other Project 2025 alumni who have been tapped to serve in Trump’s Administration, and the Trump administration has already taken up nearly 20 Project 2025 mandates just in its first weeks – despite repeatedly distancing himself from the agenda.

ACCOUNTABLE.US IN THE NEWS:

MSNBC: Kash Patel’s financial ties to Chinese fast-fashion brand Shein raise alarms: “A new report on his finances is raising eyebrows, as well. Progressive advocacy group Accountable.US reported Tuesday on Patel’s multimillion-dollar ties to an investment firm that owns the Chinese clothing company Shein, which has faced accusations of human rights abuses.”

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: Oil, gas lobbyist tapped for BLM directorship: “The Project 2025 plan for laying waste to America’s public lands and waters in pursuit of record oil and gas profits is now the official Trump administration plan,” Tony Carrk, executive director of the watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a news release Tuesday. “The more the president surrounds himself with climate-denying oil industry insiders like Kathleen Sgamma, the less say everyday Americans will have in preserving their clean air, water, and public lands while they pay whatever big oil pleases at the pump.”

Forbes: How FBI Nominee Kash Patel Made Millions Off His Loyalty To Trump: Tax experts also questioned whether The Kash Foundation was running afoul of rules that bar nonprofits of “political intervention” or providing “private benefit” to people involved with it, as the foundation features links on its website to Patel’s books and videos of him endorsing political candidates, as well as documents related to political events like Jan. 6. In December, left-leaning watchdog Accountable.US also raised questions about the nonprofit paying more than $275,000 in 2023 to a company owned by Andrew Ollis, who serves as the foundation’s vice president and co-founded Based Apparel with Patel. That payment was initially omitted from the organization’s tax filings until a revised version was filed.

Red flags continue to pile up on Trump’s nominees and cabinet:

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