Republicans eye ‘de-banking’ with new government trifecta
Story by Zach Halaschak, Washington Examiner, 1/29/25
Republicans are looking to investigate and end the practice of “de-banking” amid concerns that financial institutions might be denying financial services to conservatives.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said de-banking would be a major focus for his panel, speaking Tuesday in his office with a group of reporters to walk through his agenda.
“What we’re seeing today with de-banking is you’re making a whole new class of people, businesses and individuals by targeting them, leery of our banking system,” Scott said. “That’s just not good for America’s economic and financial health. I think it’s also wrong and, frankly, illegal from my perspective.”
The big banks deny that they de-bank people or businesses based on political views.
Scott will be convening a hearing on de-banking that is set for Feb. 5. On Tuesday he announced that the founder and CEO of Black Rifle Coffee, Evan Hafer, will be among the witnesses to testify before the committee. The committee will also hear from Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, and Stephen Gannon, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine.
Scott claimed Tuesday that Black Rifle Coffee had been de-banked. The Washington Examiner reached out to the company for further comment. The company has cultivated a conservative following for its pro-gun stance and Hafer even co-authored an op-ed with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) railing against the environmental, social, and governance movement.
One accusation of de-banking made in 2023 by the National Committee for Religious Freedom, a religious freedom group founded by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.
It claimed that Chase de-banked it three weeks after opening an account — with the nonprofit organization reportedly being asked by the bank to provide a list of its donors.
Scott said that having this hearing on debanking is just the “first leap in the right direction,” but it will not be the last for the committee and lawmakers. He said that the first step in the process for Republicans will be raising public awareness and holding the hearing on debanking.
“No. 2, it is understanding forward to putting pressure on the regulators, and No. 3, are there remedies in law that should be a part of the nation’s approach to fairness that we need to get to,” Scott said.
President Donald Trump has also spoken about the matter since entering office last week.
Trump virtually appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and confronted Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan during a Q&A portion, accusing him of de-banking conservatives.
“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 and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump told Moynihan. He also mentioned JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon by name.
The banking industry has pushed back against the accusation, with a JPMorgan spokesperson saying the bank has “never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop.”
“We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework that Washington must address,” the spokesperson said after Trump’s comments. “We welcome the opportunity to work with the new administration and Congress on ways to remove regulatory ambiguity while maintaining our country’s ability to address financial crime.”
It doesn’t appear as though there is one single spark for the new crusade over accusations of de-banking, although a major reason could be merely that Republicans now have a government trifecta — controlling the White House, Senate, and House — and think they can now exact meaningful change in the matter.
Will Hild, executive director of the conservative nonprofit group Consumers’ Research, told the Washington Examiner that he thinks de-banking is going to be a topic that both Congress and the White House will focus on in the coming months now that the GOP is in the majority.
“I think people are just fed up with it, and there’s this sense that something can finally be done about it,” Hild said.