‘Politically motivated’: Fired leaders of group overseeing $2.3T credit hit out at Trump
Two members of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) have been let go by the Trump White House, including one who was appointed by Trump during his first administration, according to a report from Reuters.
Tanya Otsuka and Todd Harper, who are both Democrats, were removed on Tuesday. They released separate statements on their termination.
According to Reuters, Otsuka said, “She was informed via email on Tuesday evening that she was immediately terminated.” She said the move was, “yet another attempt to undermine the rule of law and blatantly ignore Congress and our democratic values.”
Otsuka was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. Her term was not supposed to expire until 2029.
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Harper was appointed by Trump in 2019. Two years later, in 2021, he was named chairman of the board by Biden.
“This ill-conceived and politically motivated decision to fire me before the end of my term upsets that important regulatory balance and will harm consumers,” Harper said in a LinkedIn post.
He was reconfirmed to the board in 2022, and his term was not supposed to expire until 2027.
The NCUA is a three-seat board that supervises the United States’ $2.3 trillion credit union sector. There is currently one member still in office, Chairman Kyle Hauptman.
The Republican was selected by Trump as the thirteenth chairman in January of this year. Since 2020, Hauptman has served as vice chairman. Before his appointment, Hauptman was an advisor on economic policy to Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR).
Reuters penned, “The removals mark Trump’s latest effort to fire officials at independent regulatory agencies.”
An NCUA spokesperson declined to comment to Reuters.