Consumer group calls for ouster of CFPB lending official



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A consumer advocacy group is calling for the expulsion of a Trump political candidate to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the Washington Post reported that the official had written 14 years ago that a majority of crimes hateful were hoaxes. someone from a racist.

The Post reported Wednesday night that Eric Blankenstein, who oversees the fair credit law enforcement as CFPB's policy director for oversight, enforcement and fair lending, said expressed controversial opinions, notably written with two other anonymous contributors.

Blankenstein wrote on the political blog that "hate crime hoaxes are about three times more prevalent than hate crimes," the paper said.

In the Post, Blankenstein stated that his earlier writings had no bearing on his current role.

"The knowledge to learn about how I do my job today – by reading excerpts from 14-year-old blogs that have nothing to do with the consumer protection law – is exactly nil," did he declare.

"Any attempt to do so is a naked exercise of bad faith and represents another nail in the coffin of civil discourse and the ability to reasonably disagree on issues of law and politics," he said. "The need to unearth statements I have written as a 25-year-old shows that, in the eyes of my critics, I am not guilty of a legal offense or neglect of my homework. but rather of conservative management. "

In his writings decades ago, Blankenstein referred to a proposal by the University of Virginia as a "racial idiocy" for attempting to impose harsher academic penalties for acts of violence. intolerance, said the Post.

In the blog, Blankenstein wrote "Well … let's say they called it a n," the Post reported, noting that it spelled out the blur. "Would that make them racist, or just a ——?"

Blankenstein is one of the political candidates hired by CFPB Acting Director Mick Muvlaney earlier this year to lead the day-to-day operations of the CFPB, as Mulvaney holds two jobs in the Trump administration – chief CFPB and Head of the Office of Management. and budget.

Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress, a consumer advocacy group who criticized Mulvaney's leadership, asked Blankenstein to resign.

"With such odious views, Eric Blankenstein should not be allowed to approach the CFPB's fair lending division, much less manage it," Frisch said in a press release on Wednesday. "Mulvaney must send him back immediately."

Prior to joining CFPB earlier this year, Blankenstein spent six months in the US Trade Representative's office. He previously worked for ten years at the law firm Williams & Connolly.

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