Trump Denies Report That Deutsche Bank Ignored Suspicious Transactions: “I Don’t Need Banks”

The president has amassed more personal debt than any other in US history.

Olivier Douliery/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The morning after the New York Times reported that Deutsche Bank repeatedly dismissed concerns of suspicious activity, including potential money-laundering attempts by President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in 2016 and 2017, Trump did his best to reject the latest investigation into his longstanding, fraught ties with the German bank.

“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!” Trump began on Twitter.

He went on to falsely claim that he had never sought loans from other banks, despite his personal financial disclosures showing he has done exactly that, while continuing to amass more debt than any other president in US history. Trump then appeared to confirm one aspect of the Times‘ reporting, that he and Kushner often engaged in all-cash deals, some of which involved foreign entities. Trump asserted that this was evidence that he “doesn’t need banks.”

“No, I built a great business and don’t need banks, but if I did they would be there,” he tweeted.

In the scramble to defend the relationship with Deutsche Bank, Trump on Monday evidently left out some information, an error he blamed on Twitter. “Two Tweets missing from last batch, probably a Twitter error,” the president remarked. “No time for a redo! Only the Dems get redos!”

That apparent joke has since been deleted.

Last month, Trump and his family sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an effort to block Democrats from investigating their personal finances.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate