'It’s not a suggestion, it’s an order': Obama, Biden pressured banks to deny services to Trump?

Two bank executives, who worked during the presidential period of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, have made one of the big revelations of their terms in the White House. The bank officials, on the condition of anonymity, talked to Fox News and claimed that both Obama and Biden pressured them to deny services to conservatives like Donald Trump. The bombshell revelation came after the current American president's expected executive order to outlaw debanking.

"Those pressures were very, very real. When your regulator gives you a suggestion, it’s not a suggestion; it’s an order. The political stuff is very real, those pressures are real," a senior banking executive told the American news channel.

The officials said that the regulators under the Obama and Biden administration exploited the federal laws to fulfill their political objectives. One of the executives claimed that banks were pressured to deny services to certain industries as part of Operation Choke Point and Operation Choke Point 2.0.

"When there’s ambiguity in the law, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for a long time the beholder was the Obama and Biden administration," the official said.

Operation Coke Point was a task force whose aim was to "choke out" legal companies disfavored by the Obama administration. It worked with bank regulators to label certain industries, including firearms sales, as "high risk."

Donald Trump ended the force in 2017 during his first term in theWhite House. But, a House Financial Services Committee accused last week that Joe Biden had rebooted the initiative and targeted crypto firms for debanking as part of "Operation Choke Point 2.0."

Melania was targeted as well?

First lady Melania Trump wrote in her memoir that she and her son Barron were debanked, as well. "I was shocked and dismayed to learn that my long‑time bank decided to terminate my account and deny my son the opportunity to open a new one.… This decision appeared to be rooted in political discrimination, raising serious concerns about civil rights violations," Melania wrote.

'Brian was kissing my a** when I was president'

Talking at an interview with the CNBC on Tuesday (August 5), the American president gave his own example, saying he had "many accounts" loaded with cash, but the banks did not take him as a customer.

A journalist questioned Trump, "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that you're preparing an order to punish banks that discriminate against conservatives, including potentially the Bank of America ... Can you tell us about that executive order, what's in that?"

The US president responded, saying, "Well, they did discriminate. I had JP Morgan Chase, and I had hundreds of millions of dollars in cash. I can see they want to do something bad if you don't have any money; they took people out. But now I'll give you an amazing example. I had hundreds of millions, I had many, many accounts, loaded up with cash, and they told me, 'I'm sorry, sir. We can't have you. You have 20 days to get out.' I said you gotta be kidding. I have been with you for 35-40 years."

"I was never in this situation before. I never had anything like it," he added. He continued saying, "I call up Bank of America routinely and I speak to him, I speak to couple of people, and they had zero interest ... Brian (CEO of the bank) was kissing my a** when I was president and when I called him after I was president, to deposit, a billion dollars plus and a lot of other things ... he said 'we can't do it, no' ... and that's because the banks discriminated against me very badly, and I was very good to the banks," Trump added.

What is debanking?

Debanking is a practice under which banks either close the accounts and deny their services to individuals or businesses, often with no explanation. It was first introduced in the US under federal anti-money laundering laws and regulations.