Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

President Donald Trump is planning a crackdown on debanking, after reports that conservatives and Christians are losing access to financial services on political grounds.

President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to address the issue of debanking, citing instances of major banks freezing the funds or closing the accounts of conservatives, seemingly on political grounds.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration has drafted an executive order to penalise financial institutions for discriminating on the basis of politics or religion. The executive order would require regulators to investigate banks and lenders for potential violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or antitrust and consumer financial-protection laws, imposing fines and other penalties on violators and possibly referring some to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal investigation and prosecution.

Over the past several years, prominent conservatives have found their bank accounts closed or their assets frozens or have been denied services or told that they cannot open new accounts, seemingly on the basis of their public political positions. Following the events of January 6, 2021, Melania Trump recounted that her bank account was closed and that her son, Barron, was not allowed to open an account in what the First Lady described as a case of “political discrimination.”

Indigenous Advance Ministries, a Tennessee-based Christian missionary group with operations in Uganda, had its accounts canceled by Bank of America “with scant explanation and minimal warning,” according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the attorneys now representing the Christian group. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also alleged that UBS (formerly Union Bank of Switzerland) closed his accounts after nearly 20 years. “They said, ‘Your business is no longer welcome.’ That’s what they do to conservatives,” Lewandowski averred.

Trump himself even reported that he had been debanked for his political views. In a Tuesday night interview, the president said that JPMorganChase and Bank of America had refused to open accounts with him, even when he was looking to deposit over $1 billion, forcing him to instead do business with a large number of small banks.

Trump recalled that Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said, “‘We can’t do it.’ So I went to 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.” JPMorganChase treated him the same way. The president added, “The banks discriminated against me very badly… They discriminate against many conservatives.” He also observed that “banks are not afraid of anything but a regulator.”

Tackling Debanking Discrimination

The president also suggested that his predecessor, Joe Biden, and his administration were responsible for pressuring banks to “destroy Trump.” He explained, “I believe that Biden or Kamala — and I don’t think they’re smart enough to do it — but the people that are surrounding the beautiful Resolute Desk, the high-IQ people that are radical Left, I believe they told the Banking Commission, the banking regulators, ‘Do everything you can to destroy Trump.’” Trump added, “And that’s what they did.”

Previously, banks have cited “reputational risk” as a factor in debanking conservatives, claiming that if clients were to commit serious crimes or face prosecution for serious crimes, then the banks themselves could face steep fines. Trump’s financial regulators have pledged to stop assessing or investigating banks and other financial institutions for “reputational risk” compliance.

The draft executive order reportedly instructs financial regulators to eliminate any policies that may have contributed to debanking and directs the Small Business Administration (SBA) to investigate banks which guarantee loans through the SBA, to ensure that clients are not discriminated against for their political views.

In comments to The Washington Stand, ADF Senior Counsel Brian Knight said, “Everyone needs access to basic financial services. Shutting people out because of their political or religious beliefs? That’s not just wrong — it’s un-American.” He continued, “No one should be locked out of the financial system for their views. Period. No American should have to worry that they could lose their bank account or have a payment declined because of their religious or political beliefs.”

Knight observed, “States like Tennessee and Idaho have taken steps to protect against discriminatory debanking with ADF’s help, and we have worked diligently with federally elected officials to secure similar protections nationwide.” He added, “We appreciate President Trump taking this issue so seriously and are eager to provide further analysis once the EO is released to the public.”

___

Republished with thanks to The Washington Stand. Image courtesy of Freepik.