
President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that two major banks discriminated against him for political reasons, a tactic he said other conservatives have faced in recent years.
“The banks discriminated against me very badly, and I was very good to the banks,” Trump said during a morning interview on CNBC, adding that “they discriminated against many conservatives.”
Trump alleged that both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America declined to bank with him despite personal appeals to the CEOs of both. He said Chase gave his Trump Organization 20 days to move “hundreds of millions of dollars in cash” to a different bank, and that Bank of America declined more than $1 billion in deposits after he first left office.
???? BREAKING: President Trump CONFIRMS he’ll be signing an executive order to PUNISH banks for de-banking conservatives
Trump even talks about how HE was de-banked after the 2020 election.
“[CEO of Bank of America] was kissing my ass when I was president, and when I called him… pic.twitter.com/vzWlnDu2vZ
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 5, 2025
Trump said after he was rejected by the larger banks, his organization had to open multiple accounts with smaller banks.
“[Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan] said, ‘We can’t do it,'” Trump said. “So I went to another one, another one, another one. I ended up going to small banks all over the place. I mean, I was putting $10 million here, $10 million there. It’s lucky I even had them. They were doing me a favor.”
Trump went on to speculate that the big banks are afraid of regulators, and that unknown members of the Biden administration politically weaponized them.
“The group they’re really afraid of is bank regulators,” he said of bank CEOs. “And I believe that Biden or Kamala — and I don’t think they’re smart enough to do it, but the people that are surrounding the beautiful Resolute Desk, the high-IQ people that are radical Left — I believe they told the banking regulators, ‘Do everything you can to destroy Trump.'”
Trump’s comments came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that his administration is preparing an executive order that threatens monetary penalties, consent decrees or other punitive measures for “de-banking” clients because of their political views.
A draft of the order, which the outlet said could be signed as early as this week, reportedly labels such behavior as potential violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws or consumer financial-protection laws.
Trump’s comments to CNBC echo his address in January at the elite international World Economic Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, during which he rebuked Moynihan to his face for his bank’s alleged political discrimination.
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, they don’t take conservative business,” Trump said.
Trump also called out JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who has led the largest U.S. bank since 2006.
“And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that [de-banking] because of Biden or what,” Trump added. “But you and Jamie [Dimon] and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong.”
Sam Brownback, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, told The Christian Post at the time that he was “delighted” by Trump’s rebuke of the bankers.
“This thing has been swept under the carpet for way too long, and to get it finally out in the open is an important step to getting it solved,” he said.
Three weeks after it was opened in 2022, JPMorgan Chase shuttered the bank account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a nonpartisan, multi-faith nonprofit Brownback launched that year.
Both JPMorgan and Bank of America have denied closing bank accounts for political reasons.
“We don’t close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told CNBC. “We’re pleased to see the White House is addressing this issue, for which we’ve been advocating for many years, and look forward to working with them to get this right.”
In 2023, the House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation in response to allegations that Bank of America voluntarily turned over a list of customers who made transactions in the Washington, D.C., area on or around the date of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
In 2024, 15 state attorneys general sent a letter to Moynihan expressing concern over multiple conservative organizations the company is accused of de-banking.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com