Deutsche Bank says that U.S. privacy laws prevent it from revealing details about President Donald Trump’s finances and his potential ties to Russia, The Hill reports.
Five House Financial Services Committee Democrats sent a letter in May to Deutsche’s Chief Executive Officer, John Cryan, seeking information on Trump’s past transactions, with the committee asking for details on whether Russia’s government sponsored loans for Trump’s real estate business.
Deutsche Bank’s response is that due to privacy rules, they cannot disclose any information on Trump’s financial dealings.
“We hope that you will understand Deutsche Bank’s need to respect the boundaries that Congress and the courts have set in an effort to protect confidential information,” lawyers for the bank from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field wrote in the message, Reuters reports.
Democratic representative Maxine Waters, who is a member of the committee, confirmed through a staff member that Deutsche Bank did not give “substantive responses” to the committee’s requests. The letter requested that the bank provides information “necessary to access the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews”.
“Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia,” the Democrats letter said.
The Financial Services panel has the power to subpoena the documents, but this requires support from its Republican members and since not one GOP member signed last month’s letter to Deutsche Bank, the move cannot be completed.
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