A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit aimed at stopping the Trump administration from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has heard testimony about the chaos that erupted inside the agency last month after government employees were ordered to stop working. The bureau’s chief operating officer, Adam Martinez, said the agency was in “wind-down mode” after President Donald Trump fired its previous director and installed a temporary replacement who ordered the immediate suspension of all agency operations, cancelled $100 million dollars in contracts and fired 70 employees. Martinez testified that the agency is performing work required by law, but he said a “stop work” order for its employees remains in place.
