President Trump is expected to sign an executive order targeting banks that have penalized those holding a conservative ideology.
Trump discussed the debanking issue on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“I‘ll give you me as an example,” Trump said. “I had hundreds of millions. I had many, many accounts loaded up with cash. I was loaded up with cash, and they told me, ’I’m sorry, sir, we can’t have you. You have 20 days to get out.’”
“I said, ‘You got to be kidding. I’ve been with you for 35–40 years.’ … I didn’t know what to do with it,” Trump added. “I went to another one, another one, another one, another one. I ended up going to small banks all over the place. I mean, I was putting 10 million here, 10 million there.”
“The banks discriminated against me very badly,” the president emphasized, noting, “They discriminate against many conservatives.”
The forthcoming executive order, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, directs bank regulators to investigate possible violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, among other laws. Those found in violation of the policies may be subject to monetary penalties or other disciplinary actions.
In March, the Trump Organization announced a lawsuit against Capital One for debanking its accounts in 2021. Eric Trump stated that the move to terminate the account was a “clear attack on free speech and free enterprise that flies in the face of the bedrock principles and freedoms that define our country.”
President Trump also condemned financial institutions’ debanking practices during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) January meeting.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives because many conservatives complained that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump said to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.
