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CFPB workers protest Vought's takeover

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Union plans legal action to protect sensitive data

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Vought's Project 2025 aimed to dismantle CFPB

(New throughout, adds details on DOGE IT access, background and

statement from Democratic lawmakers)

By Douglas Gillison

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) -

Workers at the U.S. Consumer Finance Protection Bureau

demonstrated outside its headquarters on Saturday protesting

Elon Musk's assault on the agency.

The union said Musk's DOGE agency had improper access to

the bureau's systems which could potentially jeopardize

sensitive data and also said the CFPB could regulate a business

Musk has indicated plans to enter.

The bureau's website has been malfunctioning since late

on Friday, around the time Musk posted a message on X that said:

"CFPB RIP."

About 100 people attended Saturday's protest, chanting

slogans and holding placards that accused Musk and President

Donald Trump of subverting democracy. The protesters drew honks

of support from passing motorists near the White House.

The demonstration, organized by a union chapter

representing CFPB staff, came a day after that union said DOGE

representatives had gained improper access to the agency's

computer systems, according to a statement on National Treasury

Employees Union 335's website.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation on

Saturday, DOGE representatives have received

administrative-level access to all of the CFPB's IT systems.

Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has quickly

moved to remake the federal government, gaining access to

confidential data and drawing legal challenges from labor groups

and state attorneys general. Early Saturday,

a federal judge temporarily blocked

Musk's team from accessing government systems used to

process trillions of dollars in payments, citing a risk that

sensitive information could be improperly disclosed.

On Friday, Trump named newly confirmed

Office of Management and Budget Director

Russell Vought as the acting CFPB director, according to

the OMB. Vought is a longtime budget hawk and architect of the

right-wing policy manifesto known as Project 2025, which called

for the CFPB's abolition.

Congress created the CFPB in 2010 after the global

financial crisis. The bureau was charged with policing and

regulating the consumer finance sector, which originated the

toxic financial products underlying the crash. Republicans have

criticized the agency as being unaccountable and exceeding its

legal authority.

The agency's investigations, supervisory activities and

collection of consumer complaints generate large amounts of

confidential information.

In a Friday statement, the union noted that Musk's X and

Visa were partnering in an effort to

offer direct payment services to consumers

. The CFPB

is the primary federal supervisory regulator

tasked with consumer financial protection for larger

nonbank participants, according to the Congressional Research

Service.

Under former President Joe Biden's administration, the

agency returned more than $6 billion to consumers while imposing

a further $3.2 billion in fines, according to the Consumer

Federation of America.

These included a $3.7 billion

settlement with Wells Fargo ( WFC )

, over abusive consumer practices, the agency's

largest-ever enforcement action, as well as actions against Bank

of America ( BAC ), Citibank, Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and Apple ( AAPL ).

Musk and the CFPB did not immediately respond to a

request for comment. The White House did not respond to detailed

queries about developments. Representatives for Visa and X did

not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on

the Senate Banking Committee who helped create the CFPB, said

Congress had created the agency and that no one else, "not the

President, not Elon Musk, not Russ Vought--can destroy it."