Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts took issue with a political TV ad that she said made her look like a Communist dictator and ran several times during Tuesday's Republican primary debate.
"So... Can we talk about that ad that just ran during the #GOPDebate where I look like a Commie dictator?" she wrote on Twitter the same night.
The $500,000 ad, paid for by the American Action Network, features a dystopian-looking federal bureau office filled with gloomy workers who repeatedly stamp "DENIED" on consumer loan applications and other documents.
"They call it CFPB, Washington’s latest regulatory agency, designed to interfere with your personal financial decisions: that car loan you needed, your mortgage, that personal loan," a voice says during the ad. "With the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, those who need help the most are denied. Washington, D.C. controlling your decisions. Limiting your opportunity. Tell Congress to stop the CFPB now, before they deny you."
The faces of Warren, who conceived of the CFPB, and CFPB director Richard Cordray, hang on red banners in the background of the scene.
According to Boston.com, CFPB was created in 2011 as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act. Its mission is to investigate financial institutions and other companies that offer what it perceives to be predatory credit cards, mortgages, student loans, and other financial products.
Warren defended the agency in a series of tweets. She did not address the video's accusation that the CFPB plays a part in denying consumer loans and other financial products.
"Wall Street has a problem: They know the @CFPB is working, & it's incredibly popular with the families it helps,"
she tweeted. The @CFPB has forced the big financial companies to return more than $11B to people they cheated on credit cards, mortgages, etc. Thousands of dollars on a TV ad is nothing compared to the money the big banks save if their GOP buddies go after the @CFPB. Wall Street knows if they soften @CFPB support, the GOP will feel better undercutting the agency in closed-door deals. So here's my message to Wall Street & their GOP buddies: we're ready to fight back to protect the @CFPB."