Trump slams report claiming Deutsche Bank employees spotted suspicious activity: 'I didn't need money'
President Trump on Monday slammed a New York Times report claiming Deutsche Bank employees had previously flagged potentially suspicious transactions by entities controlled by the president and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and recommended a report to the U.S. agency that investigates federal financial crimes.
“The Failing New York Times (it will pass away when I leave office in 6 years), and others of the Fake News Media, keep writing phony stories about how I didn’t use many banks because they didn’t want to do business with me. WRONG! It is because I didn’t need money,” Trump said in a series of tweets. “Very old fashioned, but true. When you don’t need or want money, you don’t need or want banks.”
The New York Times report published Sunday claimed anti-money-laundering specialists at the German investment bank zeroed in on multiple transactions, some involving the now-dissolved Donald J. Trump Foundation, made in 2016 and 2017. But Trump on Monday argued that “banks have always been available” to him.
“They want to make money. Fake Media only says this to disparage, and always uses unnamed sources (because their sources don’t even exist),” the president tweeted. “The Mainstream Media has never been as corrupt and deranged as it is today. FAKE NEWS is actually the biggest story of all and is the true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! That’s why they refuse to cover the REAL Russia Hoax.”
Trump went on to tweet that he “built a great business” and doesn’t need banks while calling out Deutsche Bank for being “very good and highly professional to deal with.”
“Now the new big story is that Trump made a lot of money and buys everything for cash, he doesn’t need banks. But where did he get all of that cash? Could it be Russia? No, I built a great business and don’t need banks, but if I did they would be there,” Trump tweeted. “...and DeutscheBank was very good and highly professional to deal with - and if for any reason I didn’t like them, I would have gone elsewhere....there was always plenty of money around and banks to choose from. They would be very happy to take my money. Fake News!”
The reports about the possible suspicious transactions were never filed because bank executives rejected the specialists’ advice, The Times reported.
Kerrie McHugh, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman, denied an investigator was barred from looking into potentially suspicious transactions.
“At no time was an investigator prevented from escalating activity identified as potentially suspicious,” she added. “Furthermore, the suggestion that anyone was reassigned or fired in an effort to quash concerns relating to any client is categorically false.”
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Trump Organization spokeswoman, Amanda Miller, told the newspaper the company has “no knowledge of any ‘flagged’ transactions” with the bank. She said that there were no current operating accounts with Deutsche Bank.
Trump filed a lawsuit in April against Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an effort to block House Democrats' subpoenas for his business records.