CFPB Anti-Discrimination Official Resigns After Racist Blog Fallout

on November 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 27: Supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hold signs as they gather in front of the agency November 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump has picked White House Budg... WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 27: Supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hold signs as they gather in front of the agency November 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Trump has picked White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as the acting director after former director Richard Cordray stepped down and named his chief of staff Leandra English as acting director, setting up a possible court battle over who will lead the agency. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Late update: This post has been updated to reflect the Bloomberg reporting that Blankenstein resigned from the agency. Bloomberg originally reported that he had been fired.

A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official, Eric Blankenstein, resigned following an internal investigation into his racist blog posts.

Blankenstein was the policy associate director of the Office of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending, the CPFB wing that’s meant to combat discrimination by banks and financial institutions.

A senior CFPB official confirmed to TPM that Blankenstein will be leaving the agency in the coming weeks.

According to an email obtained by Bloomberg Law, his departure date is May 31.

In September last year, the Washington Post discovered Blankenstein’s blog posts from 2004 that argued that “hate-crime hoaxes” are more common than “actual hate crimes.”

Blankenstein also complained about “racial idiocy” at the University of Virginia when students pushed the school to designate racism as an honor code violation. In that same post, he described hate crime legislation as “making it illegal to have a thought.”

This story has been corrected to cite Bloomberg Law, not Bloomberg.

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for nyguy nyguy says:

    That woman looks like Glenn Close.

  2. Don’t worry. A job in the WH is waiting for him.

  3. Avatar for mrf mrf says:

    What’s next Neo Nazis appointed to the United States Holocaust commission?

  4. It’s all part of the Trump plan to destroy government by appointing the absolute worst possible people to do the job they’re appointed to.

    Meanwhile government-hating Conservatives are standing by applauding.

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