Update: on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank said it had responded “promptly” to request from U.S. Democrats seeking information from the bank on its client relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, a spokesman said Tuesday. It added that the bank can’t comment on individual client relationships and supplying information about relationship to external parties would be violation of law, spokesman says
* * *
A few weeks ago we highlighted a letter drafted by the infamous Maxine Waters of the House Financial Services Committee demanding information from Deutsche Bank on a Russian money laundering scheme and loans made to Trump's businesses while he was a private citizen. Without providing any evidence or basis for her request, Waters seemingly attempted to link Trump to the "Russian Mirror Trading Scandal" and also asked for info on whether Russian "guaranteed" $300 million of loans made to Trump's real interests in the Doral Golf resort in Florida, a Washington D.C. hotel and a Chicago tower...you know, because Russia had an obvious interest in backstopping Trump loans made several years ago on the off chance he might run for President one day and win.
From the letter:
We write seeking information relating to two internal reviews reportedly conducted by Deutsche Bank ("Bank"): one regarding its 2011 Russian mirror trading scandal and the other regarding its review of the personal accounts of President Donald Trump and his family members held at the Bank. What is troubling is that the Bank to our knowledge has thus far refused to disclose or publicly comment on the results of either of its internal reviews. As a result, there is no transparency regarding who participated in, or benefited from, the Russian mirror trading scheme that allowed $10 billion to flow out of Russia. Likewise, 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. It is critical that you provide this Committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews.
Not surprisingly, Reuters now reports this morning that Deutsche Bank has now responded to the Waters' letter by requesting more time.
Germany's largest bank has asked for more time to respond to a request from Democrats on a U.S. House of Representatives panel for details about U.S. President Donald Trump's possible ties to Russia, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday.
Deutsche Bank's external counsel sent a letter dated Friday June 2 to the Democrats saying it needed additional time, the source told Reuters. The person spoke on condition of anonymity and declined to specify how much more time the bank's counsel needed.
Of course, given that Maxine Waters has absolutely no authority to compel Deutsche Bank to deliver any of the documentation she requested on her Russian fishing expedition, we suspect she may continue to be disappointed.
But the loan docs, which are most likely as standard and customary as they are boring, were never really the point anyway now were they? No, the point was to craft a salacious letter to progress a narrative that Trump's "unconventional relationship" with DB, because providing real estate loans is way outside DB's ordinary business scope, is somehow tied to every shady Russian money laundering scheme ever uncovered.
“Deutsche Bank’s pattern of involvement in money laundering schemes with primarily Russian participation, its unconventional relationship with the President, and its repeated violations of U.S. banking laws over the past several years, all raise serious questions about whether the Bank’s reported reviews of the mirror trading scheme and Trump’s financial ties to Russia were sufficiently robust,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
Clearly this delay must mean that Trump is guilty of colluding with the Russian government to hack the 2016 election. We're awaiting confirmation that Maxine Waters has started drafting impeachment motions.
Here is the original letter (link):
http://www.scribd.com/embeds/349316379/content