CFPB Fires Employee Over a Confrontation With DOGE a Year Ago

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has fired staffer Alexis Goldstein over her actions during a tense visit by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the agency about a year ago.

What happened

• In early 2025, a DOGE team came to CFPB headquarters for a meeting with agency leadership as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to slash the bureau’s staff and authority.

• During that visit, program manager Alexis Goldstein allegedly walked into the meeting room, used her personal phone to take photos that included computer screens, and confronted the CFPB’s information technology infrastructure director, Tom McCarthy, reportedly yelling at him.​

• The incident became part of the broader narrative of internal resistance and chaos as DOGE officials pushed layoffs and restructuring at the CFPB.

The firing decision

• On February 11, 2026, CFPB acting deputy chief of staff Jean Chang informed Goldstein that she was being terminated for her conduct during that 2025 DOGE meeting.

• Internal explanations cited disruption of an official meeting and photographing sensitive material on screens as violations serious enough to warrant removal.​

Broader DOGE–CFPB context

• DOGE, created by President Donald Trump and first led by Elon Musk, has been aggressively involved in cutting and reshaping multiple federal agencies, including the CFPB.

• At the CFPB, DOGE-linked staff such as Gavin Kliger have been central to mass layoff efforts and have drawn scrutiny for ethics conflicts and their conduct toward federal employees.

• Lawmakers and courts have repeatedly intervened over the attempted “gutting” of the bureau, including temporary blocks on mass firings and demands for ethics explanations around DOGE’s activities.