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During a campaign speech in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Donald Trump made a reference to right-wing complaints about the U.S. banking system that may have flown under the radar or caused confusion for people who aren’t extremely online.
The issue in question — the financing of conservative extremism — has been a source of angst for far-right Republicans like conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who’s been in Trump’s orbit as of late.
So here’s a quick explainer.
During his speech in New Hampshire, Trump said: “We’re also going to place strong protections to stop banks and regulators from trying to debank you from your ... your political beliefs, what they do.”
Trump appears to be referring to members of the far right who’ve been kicked off payment platforms in recent years — including Loomer, who has been banned from PayPal, Venmo and GoFundMe (something she wears like a badge of honor). And civil rights groups have continued scrutiny of the financial ecosystem used by far-right extremists, as evidenced by this report from the Anti-Defamation League.
So when Trump says he’d “stop banks and regulators” from trying to “debank” people, he seems to be saying he’d stop companies and federal officials from trying to sever extremists from financial resources they can use to survive or thrive. After all, these right-wingers aren’t being “debanked” merely because of their “political beliefs.” As for their extremism? That’s a different story.
Nonetheless, Republicans — namely, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio — are trying their hardest to show there’s anti-conservative bias afoot. Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, subpoenaed Citibank in August while accusing the FBI of engaging in “back-channel discussions” with financial institutions during its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack.
Jordan portrayed this as the FBI snooping on conservatives. But as CNN reported at the time:
As part of its investigation into the January 6 attack at the Capitol, the FBI collected financial, communications and other business records of people investigated for possible crimes related to the Capitol riot. It’s a routine investigative tool used to help investigators and prosecutors gather evidence.
Bank transactions could be used to show travel and location of suspected rioters, and could be used to establish the purchase of weapons used in the attacks on police protecting the Capitol.
On Wednesday, Jordan sent a letter to Noah Bishoff, a former director of an office in the Treasury Department’s Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, alleging civil liberties violations and demanding Bishoff’s testimony. As evidence, Jordan claimed that after Jan. 6, FinCEN recommended to banks that they search their clients’ payment messages for terms like “TRUMP” and “MAGA.”
Jordan’s letter — along with Trump’s “debanking” remarks the same day — shows the extent to which far-right forces have made this particular matter a priority in today’s GOP.