Federal Banking Official Quits, Warns Democrats Launching 'Hostile Takeover'
FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams resigns and blows the whistle
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One of the U.S. federal government's top banking officials has quit, dramatically accusing Joe Biden and Democrats of launching a "hostile takeover."
Jelena McWilliams, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), announced her resignation Friday in an open letter addressed to Biden.
McWilliams, 48, has blown the whistle on Biden and his allies, accusing Senate Democrats of going around her to suit their own agenda.
"When I immigrated to this country 30 years ago, I did so with a firm belief in the American system of government," McWilliams, a Serbian immigrant, wrote in the letter.
McWilliams has a decades-long career in law, finance and banking policy before President Donald Trump appointed her to the chair.
McWilliams' resignation appears to stem from her clashes with Democrats over bank merger rules.
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"During my tenure at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the United States Senate, and the FDIC, I have developed a deep appreciation for these venerable institutions and their traditions," McWilliams continues in her letter.
"Throughout my tenure, the agency has focused on its fundamental mission to maintain and instill confidence in our banking system while at the same time promoting innovation, strengthening financial inclusion, improving transparency, and supporting community banks and minority depository institutions, including through the creation of the Mission Driven Bank Fund."
McWilliams was appointed to the position in 2018 under Trump.
Her resignation will be effective Feb. 4.
McWilliams did not provide a direct reason for her resignation in her letter to the president.
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However, she previously published a December op-ed in which she described a "hostile takeover" of the FDIC by Democrats.
"Of the 20 chairmen who preceded me at the FDIC, nine faced a majority of the board members from the opposing party, including [Martin J. Gruenberg] as chairman under President Trump until I replaced him as chairman in 2018," McWilliams wrote in her op-ed.
"Never before has a majority of the board attempted to circumvent the chairman to pursue their own agenda."
"This conflict isn’t about bank mergers.
"If it were, board members would have been willing to work with me and the FDIC staff rather than attempt a hostile takeover of the FDIC internal processes, staff and board agenda."
