The Trump administration's Feb. 8 order that employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau halt much of their work amounts to an existential crisis for a government agency that itself was born from crisis.

The Trump administration's work to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could hit American consumers in the wallet. It could also spare Elon Musk's business interests from unwanted federal attention.

WASHINGTON — Two top leaders of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were removed from their roles Tuesday — in the first staffing cuts as President Trump’s team begins an ambitious effort to gut the 1,700-person agency, The Post has learned.