President Trump said on Tuesday that he was a victim of discrimination by two of the nation’s largest banks, and suggested that his personal experience was fueling his animas with Wall Street.
Mr. Trump, in an interview on CNBC, said that both JPMorgan Chase — the nation’s largest bank — and Bank of America refused to accept more than $1 billion in deposits from the Trump Organization following his first term. He said that he made personal appeals to the chief executives of both banks but was rejected.
“The banks discriminated against me very badly,” Mr. Trump said.,
Mr. Trump’s remarks couldn’t immediately be confirmed. A JPMorgan spokesman did not address Mr. Trump’s charge, instead sending a statement saying that the bank would not comment on clients. Bank of America declined to comment. The Trump Organization earlier sued Capital One for closing its accounts in the wake of the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol.
The president’s commentary on Tuesday carries significant weight on Wall Street because his administration has been preparing a crackdown, in the form of an executive order and other proposed regulatory changes, on so-called debanking practices. Many right-leaning organizations have claimed that the financial system has locked them out because of their political positions.
Bank executives and lobbying groups have broadly pushed back against that assertion, although they have said that beginning with the Obama administration — and during Mr. Trump’s first term — they were required by regulators to scrutinize closely categories of deposits, including payday lenders and gun-related businesses.
Mr. Trump, asked during the CNBC interview if he would sign an executive order on debanking, did not explicitly comment on his plans.
Rather, he responded by describing his company’s experience with Chase and Bank of America.
He said that after his first term, the Trump Organization was given 20 days to withdraw more than $1 billion from Chase. He said he appealed directly to JPMorgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon. “You could ask him,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe he’s not going to admit it.”
Asked about Mr. Trump’s statement, the JPMorgan spokesman said that as a rule the bank didn’t close accounts for political reasons.
After his Chase accounts were closed, Mr. Trump said he tried Bank of America. That bank’s chief executive, Brian Moynihan, “was kissing my ass when I was president,” but wouldn’t accept the deposits after his first term ended, Mr. Trump said.
Eventually, the Trump Organization spread its money across a number of smaller banks, Mr. Trump said. “Ten million here, ten million there,” he said. “It’s lucky I even had them. They were doing me a favor.”
Rob Copeland is a finance reporter for The Times, writing about Wall Street and the banking industry.
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