Outgoing Trump watchdog faces Democrat fire over handling of consumer agency

Representative Andy Barr, the top Republican on the subcommittee for financial institutions, compared CFPB regulatory enforcement activity to "Gestapo tactics," referring to Nazi secret police, that he claimed had bankrupted law-abiding companies.

In a statement following the hearing, a Barr spokesperson did not directly address the Gestapo comparison, saying the CFPB had "crushed consumers — the very people it was supposedly created to protect — by waging war" on industries that provide consumer credit.

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's outgoing interim consumer finance watchdog, on Wednesday sparred with congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, telling lawmakers efforts to sharply shrink the agency in fact helped eliminate economic burdens.