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While awaiting Senate confirmation to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Jonathan McKernan was nominated by President Donald Trump for a key role at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to Law360, a spokesperson for the White House later confirmed that McKernan’s nomination with the CFPB will not proceed.
Bessent said in an announcement on Friday that the president’s intention is to nominate McKernan as the Treasury department’s undersecretary of domestic finance.
While awaiting Senate confirmation for the role of CFPB director, McKernan has been serving as an adviser to the Treasury department and has “become an integral part of the Secretary’s senior team,” the announcement stated. “His continued service at Treasury will ensure that his experience and expertise are best put to advancing the president’s America First agenda.”
The Treasury position that McKernan has been nominated for was characterized as a “full-time job” by someone familiar with the workings of the department.
The announcement did not specify whether McKernan was out of the running for the CFPB leadership position, but reporting at Law360 later confirmed that his nomination at the bureau will not proceed. The outlet cited a White House spokesperson who said the president will “pull” the CFPB nomination.
A recent social media post by a former Fannie Mae executive said that McKernan may not have been consulted on some of the bureau’s recent actions regarding staffing cuts, or a recent memo outlining revised bureau supervision and enforcement priorities.
This could have led to McKernan choosing to withdraw his name from consideration. And that could lead to an outcome that CFPB defenders might lament, considering the high priority and focus on statutory guidance that McKernan outlined in his Senate confirmation hearing. He is perceived by some insiders as a traditional Republican regulator.
“If you care about the mission of the CFPB, you want a guy like Jonathan McKernan in there as soon as possible,” David Dworkin, the president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC), said in an interview with HousingWire last week.
When reached on Friday, Dworkin added that Treasury will benefit from the addition of McKernan to such a key role.
“The CFPB’s loss is the Treasury secretary’s gain, and McKernan will make a fantastic undersecretary for domestic finance,” Dworkin said. “It’s one of the most important jobs in the financial subcabinet, if not the most important. McKernan might be the most highly qualified of anyone I can imagine being considered.”
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) lauded the selection of McKernan for the role at the Treasury, according to a statement from Bob Broeksmit, the association’s president and CEO.
“Jonathan McKernan’s current role as a Treasury Department advisor, as well as his deep experience as a regulator, in private practice, and on Capitol Hill make him a great choice to serve as Undersecretary of Domestic Finance,” Broeksmit said.
The association congratulated McKernan, adding that it believes “he will be a prudent leader on the full range of domestic finance issues, including those pertaining to fiscal policy, financial markets, financial institutions, and the housing government-sponsored enterprises.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with reporting from Law360 about the end of McKernan’s nomination to serve as CFPB director, along with statements from David Dworkin and Bob Broeksmit.
