President Trump criticized Ohio gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray at a campaign rally in Ohio on Friday night, saying that Cordray enjoyed hurting people as head of a consumer protection bureau in Washington.
“He was hurting people and I think he enjoyed it,” Trump said of Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that was set up as part of the Wall Street reform bill passed by a Democratic Congress after the 2008 financial collapse.
{mosads}“No really, I think he enjoyed it,” Trump said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is considering her own run for the White House in 2020, was instrumental in the creation of the CFPB, which was set up to offer protections to consumers from various financial instruments, including mortgages and credit cards.
Republicans have long opposed the bureau, arguing it hurts the economy and is an example of government overreach. The Trump administration has been aggressive in seeking to unwind it.
The new director of the CFPB, Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney, in June fired members of an advisory board to the bureau.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Cordray and the CFPB. Cordray earlier this year responded that “all your name-calling won’t stop me from fighting those who want to cheat Ohio families.”
Cordray is in a tight race with Republican Mike DeWine in Ohio, a state Trump won in 2016.