VanityFair | In a letter to the bank signed by Representative Maxine Waters and four other Democratic members of the committee, the lawmakers write:
“We [are] seeking information relating to two internal reviews reportedly conducted by Deutsche Bank (“Bank”): one regarding its 2011 Russian mirror trading scandal and the other regarding its review of the personal accounts of President Donald Trump and his family members held at the Bank. What is troubling is that the Bank to our knowledge has thus far refused to disclose or publicly comment on the results of either of its internal reviews. As a result, there is no transparency regarding who participated in, or benefited from, the Russian mirror trading scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia. Likewise, Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian Government, or were in any way connected to Russia. It is critical that you provide this Committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews.
The letter goes on to question
why, unlike most other financial institutions who refused to lend money
to Trump due to his numerous bankruptcies, “Deustche Bank continued to
do so—even after the President sued the bank and defaulted on a prior
loan from the bank—to the point where his companies now owe [Deutsche
Bank] an estimated $340 million.” It seems like a fair question!
Waters
and Co. later cite numerous examples of the bank’s “pattern of
regulatory compliance failures and disregard for U.S. law,” which doesn’t
seem like the best way to convince a group of people to help you out.
And, unfortunately, the request is simply a request—the members can’t
compel Deutsche Bank to turn over anything, or even respond with a curt
“Got your note, thx.” The committee could subpoena the German
lender for the documents, but that would require cooperation from
Republican members of the Financial Services Committee. Given that not a
single one of them signed it—and that committee chair Jeb Hensarling would lay down in traffic for a financial institution—a team-effort subpoena seems unlikely.
