Trump-appointed FDIC chairman resigns after warning of 'hostile takeover' of agency by Democrats

Jelena McWilliams, the Serbian-born lawyer and immigrant to the U.S. who was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2018 to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has resigned her position as head of that federal agency, just weeks after warning of a "hostile takeover" of the agency's leadership by Democrats. 

In a letter to President Joe Biden, McWilliams said she would be resigning her roll at the beginning of February. "Serving the American people alongside the dedicated career professionals of the FDIC has been the highlight of my professional life," she wrote to Biden. 

The letter did not specify a reason for McWilliams' resignation, but in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in mid-December, she had warned of a "hostile takeover" of the agency's board by Democratic officials. 

Those officials had been butting heads with McWilliams in recent weeks over various procedural issues related to the leadership of the board. 

Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and a member of the FDIC board, had claimed earlier in December that McWilliams was stymying efforts by himself and other Democratic-aligned officials to review bank merger rules.