Donald Trump’s Deutsche Bank nightmare just took an even uglier turn for him
Last month Deutsche Bank acknowledged in a court filing that it has Donald Trump’s tax returns. If the bank were willing to take a legal hit in order to protect Trump, it would never have made this filing. This means that once the courts inevitably order Deutsche to give Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats, it’ll comply, in order to avoid contempt of court penalties. In the meantime, Trump’s Deutsche Bank nightmare just took an ugly turn for him.
Congress has already identified instances of Deutsche Bank facilitating (or turning a blind eye to) Russian oligarch money laundering, according to a new report from Reuters. We all know about Deutsche Bank and Russian money laundering, so that part isn’t news. What does stand out here is that this confirms House Democrats have Deutsche Bank’s financial records, and that they’re already deep into identifying the Russian money laundering transactions.
Why is this a problem for Donald Trump? It means Deutsche Bank really has been cooperating with House Democrats just as thoroughly as we’ve all been led to believe. House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters stated on MSNBC months ago that the bank had already turned over some relevant financial records. This new report confirms that Deutsche voluntarily turned over incriminating records to Congress, for fear that the bank would end up worse off by not cooperating.
Even as the court battle plays out over the additional Trump financial records and Trump tax returns that Deutsche Bank possesses, it’s now clear which side Deutsche Bank is playing on – and it’s not Donald Trump’s side. When push comes to shove, criminal entities usually sell each other out to try to save themselves. So this isn’t surprising. But it’s Trump’s worst nightmare.
