Mark Paoletta is referred to as CFPB’s Chief Legal Officer but employees hadn’t heard of him until today. Appears he’s general counsel at OMB, and worked in the first Trump admin. Seems like a totally chill and normal guy. - ThreadSky

marisakabas.bsky.social • 13 days ago

Mark Paoletta is referred to as CFPB’s Chief Legal Officer but employees hadn’t heard of him until today. Appears he’s general
counsel at OMB, and worked in the first Trump admin.

Seems like a totally chill and normal guy.

Comments

morepie.bsky.social•13 days ago

Per D.C. Rule of Professional Conduct 1.2(e): "A lawyer shall not counsel a client to engage, or assist a client, in conduct that the lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent...."

sjmom2.bsky.social•13 days ago

Fitting Thomas is swearing in Trumps insurectionist loving cabinet.

misterrora.bsky.social•13 days ago

He’s Clarence Thomas’ chief fluffer and attack dog.

cingraham.bsky.social•13 days ago

lol I think it's this Mark Paoletta

emmaroller.bsky.social•13 days ago

Alt text pls

realitycheck.bsky.social•13 days ago

Sitting right between Leonard Leo and Clarence Thomas. He keeps good company!

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/nonprofit/2023/04/crews-complaint-re-justice-thomas.html

scotchy70.bsky.social•13 days ago

[email protected] - he’s waiting to hear from all of us “woke” radicals

courtesyhangup.bsky.social•13 days ago

Had to bring up Thomas and rub salt in the wound

readingrenee.bsky.social•13 days ago

Is this the first administration to use a SCOTUS for so many Oaths of Office? Is Paoletta et al. Requesting Thomas due to their close alliance?

bverhaaren.bsky.social•13 days ago

Why is Ginny Thomas at EVERY event Clarence is? Is it corruption and influence, or is he just totally brain addled now…or both?

cornellmom.bsky.social•13 days ago

She’s his handler.

bverhaaren.bsky.social•13 days ago

Always has been, it seems.

mlamb.bsky.social•13 days ago

Love their country and revere the Constitution is a bit of a stretch.

vincenzodon.bsky.social•13 days ago

Does anyone else want to kick Mark’s ass?

breningstall.bsky.social•13 days ago

He wants an invite to paid vacations.

elizabetheo.bsky.social•13 days ago

Um. I wouldn’t say Russ reveres the thing he openly says he wants to dismantle.

mkwilson27.bsky.social•13 days ago

He misspelled “traitors” and “shred.”

ddayen.bsky.social•13 days ago

He's the guy sitting next to Thomas in this oil painting hanging in Harlan Crow's estate.

esbee2010.bsky.social•13 days ago

Oil paintings should not be for guys in sandals or shorts. Just take a photo you losers

courtesyhangup.bsky.social•13 days ago

That painting makes me want to smoke marijuana.

jwlongthelast.bsky.social•13 days ago

You're in Louisiana?
I get it.
Mississippi boy, here.

courtesyhangup.bsky.social•13 days ago

It’s the worst down here 😒

jwlongthelast.bsky.social•13 days ago

So casually and confidently oppressive.
My family is MS Delta and Jackson
I am removed to the Midwest atm..

sbagen.bsky.social•13 days ago

Also the brains behind that ham-handed funding freeze memo.

jeffreylaux.bsky.social•13 days ago

That painting gives me creepy Kier Eagan-type vibes.

mashamasha.bsky.social•13 days ago

I demand this painting's name to be "Sipping Scotch and Chortling"

joshuaamend.bsky.social•13 days ago

“and Chortling About Racism”

kalliopeo.bsky.social•13 days ago

I feel sorry for the statue

ballsleon.bsky.social•13 days ago

What’s the statue behind them 🤨

athenabird.bsky.social•13 days ago

From the part of the statue I can see, I think it represents Atlas Holding up the Universe. If so, quite reflective of the unearned self-regard of this gathering of mopes.

pecan7.bsky.social•13 days ago

Vought doesn’t even try to hide his disdain for the Constitution. He publicly opposes it! “revere” lmao.

jsweetli.bsky.social•13 days ago

He was Ginni Thomas’ lawyer for J6 stuff

stitchingtwitcher.bsky.social•13 days ago

I knew his name sounded familiar

missroyalkc.bsky.social•13 days ago

Ugh

andbrent.bsky.social•13 days ago

"our nation's all-time greatest Supreme Court justice" is doing a LOT of work here.

lucyismygirl.bsky.social•13 days ago

@Mark Paoletta 2 douche bags you mean. Right Mark? Go fk yourself.

resistingautocracy.bsky.social•13 days ago

Nobody should consider writing a bunch of not-obvious-spam emails to Paoletta's email address..., right? 🫡

reetles.bsky.social•13 days ago

John Oliver did an amazing piece on Clarence Thomas! I don't understand why he can still hold his position with how corrupt he is!

dvdbutler.bsky.social•13 days ago

"In his role (Trump admin), Paoletta overruled objections from officials at both the OMB and the Department of Defense to delay U.S. security assistance to Ukraine."

marisakabas.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yesterday CFPB employees learned the office would be shut down this week, and a number scrambled to the office Sunday afternoon to gather their belongings, I’m told. After a few minutes, they were told by facilities staff that they had to vacate immediately.

klynnc.bsky.social•13 days ago

That is such BS

lxtruong.bsky.social•13 days ago

🗣️We're speed running new jurisprudence on Impoundment and the Take Care Clause!

mynahleague.bsky.social•13 days ago

Project 2025, it’s happening. Hope federal employees are taking notes and precautions against unlawful dismissals. No way treat employees like they are guilty of some wrong doing.

mariaire2002.bsky.social•13 days ago

Or what? Be gunned down? I’ll be damned if I would listen to this NAZI authoritarian bull.

piecederesister.bsky.social•13 days ago

This is a hostile corporate takeover of the entire US Government.

missmattiemac.bsky.social•13 days ago

Why tell them on Saturday and not let them get their personal things Sunday?

Are they going to be rifiling through people's personal belongings too?

adtesq811.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yes. Yes they are.

missmattiemac.bsky.social•13 days ago

JFC

marisakabas.bsky.social•13 days ago

Per Vought’s email, it appears CFPB employees are, for intents and purposes, on administrative leave. But Vought won’t call it that because of the lawsuit on behalf of USAID employees put on leave. They’re learning with every step.

spfhockeyfan.bsky.social•13 days ago

Argue constructive admin leave - they can’t pretend it isn’t just by changing the name

seersnively.bsky.social•13 days ago

Man, Bird Flu is going to be WILD this winter!

oaklandishdude.bsky.social•13 days ago

I mean judges aren't stupid if they bring a suit for this they're going to see that it is what it is.

dan-occ-light.bsky.social•13 days ago

That's exactly what I was going to say. Plus they already did in the spending freeze suite. It got them a TRO or two.

mariaire2002.bsky.social•13 days ago

Like an evil entity devoid of real humanity… they lurch ahead, learning new skills to hurt us as they proceed. American patriots (real. NotMAGA) only recourse now is to remember what happened in Trumps homeland Germany. People were afraid that there were teeth behind orders. Well here there are not

thoughtcriminal.bsky.social•13 days ago

I am reaching the inescapable conclusion that we are, simply, f*cked.

thorvalhallen.bsky.social•13 days ago

Go down punching.

https://youtu.be/jCVtB5jlEbk?feature=shared

ronniblue2.bsky.social•13 days ago

More of us 💙🦋than them…we have a PR problem. MAGAss still thinks they are just getting rid of ‘waste’!

kycolonel5.bsky.social•13 days ago

Oh, absolutely.

imadeitnice.bsky.social•13 days ago

That may very well be, but don't give up yet!

cynbelterreus.bsky.social•13 days ago

"What if we just don't call things what they are" yeah fortunately the judges are seeing through that fucking bs.

livebyreason.bsky.social•13 days ago

But the only judges that matter are the 6 Cons of the Supreme Court, and nobody knows what they are willing to rubber stamp.

Really, no other judges seem to matter anymore.

mariaire2002.bsky.social•13 days ago

So far federal judges have only been “X” challenged by the wimpy out of sight eyelash guy, JD.

cynbelterreus.bsky.social•13 days ago

And until things get to them the other judges do matter

bitchsmile.bsky.social•13 days ago

Whether formally on admin leave or not, it’s illegal to pay employees to not work

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Doesn't matter if he calls it that or not, legally.

Fun fact is OPM itself declares exactly those conditions is what makes administrative leave.

desertmage65.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah, much as they would like to invent a new category called "weird legal limbo," if they tell you to stop working but keep paying you, you are on administrative leave. No semantic games can help them here.

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Now, it would be a real shame if they emailed Mark every time they wanted to sharpen a pencil.

desertmage65.bsky.social•13 days ago

LMAO. I'm on the toilet, can you come wipe me?

mariaire2002.bsky.social•13 days ago

Can this be distributed to those employees. Do you work at Consumer Protection? Can you get this out to folks?

triplebassist.bsky.social•13 days ago

Right and so it's clearly not "learning" but "trying a run-around on the order which the judge will totally love"

Let's not give them credit--they haven't earned it.

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Apparently they believe judges are blind, not just justice.

skiddius.bsky.social•13 days ago

That was my first question. This isn't some anime. You don't have to fucking say the name of thing you're doing out loud while doing it like some kind of special power or something.

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Funny that you mention anime.

Russ be thinking he's Kira to govt workers, but independent journalists lining up to Near his ass.

tobesilent.bsky.social•13 days ago

Overheard

black-brickle.bsky.social•13 days ago

This has got to be the most spectacular sentence using an anime reference that i have ever read. 🤣🤣 I love it!

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Typical of amateur hour attorneys.

kalliopeo.bsky.social•13 days ago

I think that’s the only attorneys he has left that he brought with him. No other attorneys will work for him willingly.

stemthebleeding.bsky.social•13 days ago

"Congress does not hide elephants in mouseholes."

- Antonin Scalia

lipstickscribbles.bsky.social•13 days ago

Apparently Russ missed taking that web page down.

Probably because it didn't contain any of his trigger words.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/administrative-leave/

kathryntewson.bsky.social•13 days ago

This is Elon’s MO. He makes sure that everything is very vague so that the actual scope and depth of his authority is undefined, and then acts like undefined power is the same as unbounded power.

loafsta.bsky.social•13 days ago

I don’t think Russ Vought is working for Elon. He and his Heritage/Christian Nationalist buddies have their own agenda, distinct from the billionaire tech bro set, that happens to overlap with Elon’s in certain spots - including deregulation.

toonspin.nl•13 days ago

That feels right and it's so childish. Like "in the rules I just made up it doesn't say I can't do this". It's kindergarten level reasoning - if it can be called that.

kathryntewson.bsky.social•13 days ago

He doesn’t even cite to rules. He just does shit while people try to figure out what the purported basis for his authority to do those things is so that they can stop him, and by the time he’s forced to admit he doesn’t have any, the shit is already done.

oaklandishdude.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah this is the plan. Run as hard and fast as you can break everything and ignore everything. Until you either have to stop or until you're won. IE Congress steps in and impeaches the president not going to happen

naveenm94.bsky.social•13 days ago

A side benefit of this is that undefined power also means undefined responsibility. He can dip in and out at the whim of his ketamine fueled ADHD, and appoint under qualified lackeys to do the hard work.

kathryntewson.bsky.social•13 days ago

The incremental work that people are doing to force disclosure and collapse those probability waves feels frustratingly slow, but it’s essential to this process

kelong.bsky.social•13 days ago

For all my doubts and concerns, the processes are working and the guardrails are holding. For now.

imdoctorremulak.bsky.social•13 days ago

where?!?

kathryntewson.bsky.social•13 days ago

They aren’t. Or they almost aren’t. It’s very fragile right now. But this is the way to beat them back and get things to a place where the government can govern.

jennrhubbard.bsky.social•13 days ago

Yeah, wtf, it has to be either administrative leave (paid) or furlough (unpaid), and there are notice requirements (and bargaining obligations if they are covered by a union) for the latter. The lack of clarity is creepy

yourneighbor57.bsky.social•13 days ago

Even if they don't call it that, can't they sue and point that out? Just because it's not given that label, if it meets the definition of administrative leave, then that's what it is.

wizzyprobs.bsky.social•13 days ago

If that's learning, they're fucked. Those folks are on administrative leave

livebyreason.bsky.social•13 days ago

Shutting down the CFPB should be a giant billboard to people advertising the fact that Trump and his buddies are about to screw people on a massive scale. They also have signaled they want to kill FDIC.
You want a bank run? This is how you create a bank run.

mariaire2002.bsky.social•13 days ago

Trump wants massive chaos. He’ll declare an emergency and overthrow the judiciary Right now it’s the only thing in his way because Dems won’t walk out. We need strikes. No traffic controllers. America will grind to a total HALT. No teachers? Businesses will grind to a halt. No Congressional quorum?

noahdahl.bsky.social•13 days ago

He was Vought's OMB GC during Trump's first admin as well. He's known Clarence Thomas since before he was on SCOTUS and also represented Ginni Thomas before the 1/6 committee. Dishonestly, I might add.