Battle over control of CFPB is about to end

Leandra English, who sued President Trump last year claiming to be the rightful director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Friday that she plans to resign and end her lawsuit.

Trump's nomination last month of Kathy Kraninger to be the CFPB's permanent director meant that English faced long odds in her effort to unseat Mick Mulvaney as the CFPB's acting director.

"I will be stepping down from my position at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau early next week, having made this decision in light of the recent nomination of a new Director," English said in a statement on Twitter posted by her lawyer. "I want to thank all of the CFPB's dedicated career civil servants for your important work on behalf of consumers. It has been an honor to work alongside you."

English's attorney, Deepak Gupta, said English will end her suit, which had also named Mulvaney as a defendant, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

"Now that President Trump has decided to seek Senate confirmation of a new Director for the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Ms. English is stepping down and we intend to file court papers on Monday to bring the litigation to a close," Gupta wrote on Twitter.

For a couple of days last year it was unclear who was the lawful head of the CFPB.

English was thrust into the limelight in late November by former CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who stepped down from the role to run for governor of Ohio and named English his successor.

But within hours, Trump had named Mulvaney, the White House budget director, to the job of acting CFPB director, setting up a strange few days for the agency and a court battle.

Ultimately, a federal judge declined to grant English a temporary restraining order, and Mulvaney was declared the interim head of the agency.

Cordray had cited language in the Dodd-Frank Act in claiming that he could name his successor, but Trump argued the Federal Vacancies Reform Act had precedence.

Still, in April a panel of D.C. Circuit appellate judges said they remained skeptical of English's claims but also were not convinced that Mulvaney was the rightful head, either.

English had been the CFPB's chief of staff but was relatively unknown outside the agency.