One of the great mysteries of the business world is why Deutsche Bank lent financial parasite Donald Trump more than $2 billion over two decades when other firms treated him like the bubonic plague. It’s a riddle Democrats regularly attempted to solve during Trump’s first two years in office, but were unsuccessful in their pursuit because 1) the bank wasn’t talking, and 2) Republicans who’d effectively pledged to take a bullet for the president were controlling Congress and refused to help their colleagues subpoena the information they were seeking. Thanks to the results of the midterm elections, though, times have changed!
On Monday, the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees issued a subpoena to Deutsche Bank demanding information about the German lender’s famous client, as well as documents related to “possible money-laundering by people in Russia and Eastern Europe.” In a statement, Financial Services chairwoman Maxine Waters said that “the potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern,“ and that her panel is “exploring these matters, including as they may involve the president and his associates, as thoroughly as possible pursuant to its oversight authority.” According to The New York Times, the subpoena had been in the works for several months, with congressional investigators working with the bank’s lawyers on specific demands. Deutsche reportedly argued that the scope should be narrowed to make it “easier and faster” for the bank to turn over the documents, a turn of events that is unlikely to please anyone in the Oval Office.
Trumpworld has responded predictably. Alan Garten, the Trump Organization‘s lawyer, said the family business was weighing its options for how to block the bank from complying with the request, while Eric Trump got extremely snippy about the whole thing, calling the subpoena “an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the president and our family for political gain,” adding that is “set[s] a horrible precedent for all taxpayers.” A spokeswoman for Deutsche said the company was “engaged in a productive dialogue” with the committees and “remain[s] committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations.”
Last month, a lengthy story by reporter David Enrich shed some light on the relationship between Trump and Deutsche Bank, which for many years had a “ravenous appetite for risk” that resulted in its executives ignoring repeated, glaring red flags from the ex-real-estate developer and going along with his cornucopia of financial lies, including his habit of inflating his assets. By the time Trump was elected, the powers that be at the bank, having apparently been asleep for the past two decades, reportedly uttered a collective Dear God, what have we done as they realized they had somehow “become the biggest lender to the president-elect.” Who, by the by, currently owes the bank a cool $340 million, making Deutsche Trump’s biggest creditor.
The House panels are not the only entities exploring the curious case of Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank. Last month, New York attorney general Letitia James, who has vowed to make Trump’s life a living hell, issued a subpoena to the German lender seeking information about loans it made to the president, before he became president.
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