Trump Says Big Banks "Debanked" Him -- Now He's Firing Back
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The banks pushed back. JPMorgan said it doesn't close accounts for political reasons and supports regulatory change. Bank of America said it serves 70 million clients and doesn't apply any political litmus test, though it acknowledged that government regulations sometimes lead to ending client relationships. Capital One, meanwhile, is in a legal battle with the Trump Organization over hundreds of accounts allegedly closed for political reasons in 2021 a claim the bank denies, citing contractual terms that allowed the closures for any reason. A judge has delayed the case as Capital One moves to dismiss.
Behind all this is one key risk factor: reputation. Federal regulators, including the Fed, are now moving to drop "reputation risk" from bank exams a factor many lenders say pressured them to cut ties with certain clients. The banking industry is watching closely, with groups like the Bank Policy Institute hoping a forthcoming order will rein in what they call supervisory overreach. The issue isn't just American. In the UK, political figure Nigel Farage's bank account was closed by NatWest's Coutts unit sparking backlash, resignations, and a wider review. Trump's move could now fuel a broader reckoning with how banks decide who gets to stay and who gets shut out.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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Miami Herald
2 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Visitors to the U.S. on business and tourist visas may have to pay $15,000 bonds
Some international visitors to the United States might be required to pay up to $15,000 deposits as part of a new visa bond pilot program announced by the State Department this week in a document published in the Federal Register. The pilot program is another strategy the Trump administration is utilizing to crack down on illegal immigration and is meant to discourage the number of visitors who overstay their visas. The State Department said in the filing that those who overstay their visas pose a national security threat to the U.S. The program is being formed as part of the enforcement of a January executive order in which President Donald Trump declared there was an invasion by illegal immigration through U.S. borders. The consular officers in the respective U.S embassies will determine the amount of the bond during the issuance of the visa. Travelers will have to post the assigned bond amount before they are issued a single-entry visa, which will be valid for three months. Travelers with visa bonds would also be limited to traveling in and out of pre-selected airports. The list of airports has yet to be announced. The administration said 500,000 people overstayed their visas in 2023, based on data from the Department of Homeland Security. The pilot bond program will focus on those countries that the administration has identified as having high visa overstays. The program is limited to only B-1 business and B-2 tourist visas. It does not affect students applying for F-1 student visas. The full list of countries has yet to be announced. A State Department spokesperson said business and tourist visitors from Malawi and Zambia who are eligible for the B-1/B-2 visas will have to post bonds starting Aug. 20. According to Homeland Security's 2023 fiscal year visa overstay data, Malawi had a total visa overstay rate of 14% from 1,655 visitors, and Zambia had 11% from 3,493 visitors. The complete list of countries will be published when the program takes effect. This new program comes as South Florida airports saw a decline in the number of domestic and international travellers compared to the previous year. Dan Linblade, the president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 1,250 companies, said in a statement that international business and tourism were vital to the economy and the new bond pilot program is a 'disincentive to travel from abroad.' 'We are concerned of the potential negative impact on international tourism at a time when we see declining numbers related to foreign travel,' said Lindblade. 'If the State Department's focus is only targeted to bad players then the impact will be smaller.' The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which covers the Sixth District of the Federal Reserve, including Florida, reported in July that group bookings from international travel to the U.S from Canada, Asia, and Europe continued to slow, but there was some growth in overall travel and tourism. In the filing this week, the Department of State said that after reviewing reports going back as far as 2000, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service Data Management Improvement Act was introduced, the reports of entry and exits of nonimmigrant visa holders to the U.S. who overstayed their visas show that thousands of visitors failed to depart by their visa terms. The first Trump administration had tried to initiate a six-month visa-bond pilot program in November 2020. The program was to 'serve as a diplomatic tool to encourage foreign governments to take all appropriate actions to ensure their nationals timely depart the United States after making temporary visits.' It was to run from December 2020 through June 2021. The State Department scrapped the pilot program due to the reduction of global travel because of COVID-19. 'Data collected during the Pilot may also be used to determine the effectiveness of visa bonds at reducing overstays, evaluate concerns about insufficient identity verification, and the extent to which visa bonds may deter otherwise legitimate B-1 and B-2 visa applicants from traveling to the United States,' the State Department said. The bond program will run until August 2026, and the countries on the list will continually be updated over the year. Visitors with bonds will have to file for a refund within 30 days of their departure from the United States. Failure to do so results risks forfeiting the deposits.
CNBC
3 minutes ago
- CNBC
Trump contorts timeline of jobs report revisions in effort to justify firing BLS chief
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"They announced these phenomenal numbers the two days before the election and a little bit before that, always these great numbers ... But after I won the election, then they announced a downward number, in other words, to bring it back to reality," Trump said. But Trump's account of how the jobs report revisions were issued in 2024 is wrong. And the true timeline undermines his claims. It's true that the BLS issued a large revision to its jobs tally last year: The agency revealed that the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than originally reported for the year ended March 2024. But that revision did not come after the election, as Trump suggested Tuesday morning. Rather, it was issued in August 2024 — more than two months before the election, and after then-Vice President Kamala Harris had taken the reins as the Democratic nominee. Trump pounced on the figure at the time. "New Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the Administration PADDED THE NUMBERS with an extra 818,000 Jobs that DO NOT EXIST, AND NEVER DID," he claimed in an Aug. 21 post on Truth Social. The figure came in the BLS' preliminary annual benchmark revision, when its employment estimates derived from surveys are calibrated against state unemployment insurance tax records. The final benchmark released in February, months after the election, revised hiring down by 598,000 — lower than the preliminary figure from August. Trump is also wrong to claim that the BLS issued "phenomenal numbers" just before the 2024 election. In fact, the final jobs report before the election revealed a sharp slowdown in October hiring, after a surge the previous month. That Nov. 1 report — less than a week before Election Day — showed just 12,000 workers had been added to U.S. nonfarm payrolls in October. At the time, it was the smallest monthly job gain in nearly four years, and it fell well below experts' already-low expectations. As soon as the Nov. 1 report was released, it was immediately weaponized for political purposes — by Trump, who used the data to bash Harris. "Today's jobs report is a great embarrassment for our Nation. Kamala has lied for years about their pathetic job growth, which has never been real," Trump wrote on Truth Social Nov. 1. "America is a Nation in Decline because Sleepy Joe, and Lyin' Kamala, didn't do their job." The BLS would later revise that weak jobs figure upward — but not until after Trump had won the election. Moreover, the sharp decline in October's initial report is now understood to have been driven by several factors outside of anyone's control. Major labor strikes at Boeing and at U.S. ports had the short-term effect of removing thousands of workers from payrolls in October. 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The post came hours after the initial jobs report for the month of July showed weaker-than-expected growth. The BLS in that report also issued two revisions to initial reports from previous months. Both of them revised the jobs numbers sharply downward, shaving a combined total of 258,000 jobs off the year's tally. The downward revisions and the missed expectations for July spurred a sharp decline in financial markets. By Friday's close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen more than 500 points. The move to fire McEntarfer drew widespread criticism over fears that government employment data, which is relied upon to gauge the health of the U.S. economy and make major policy decisions, will become politicized and untrustworthy. Experts also say that even if a BLS commissioner wanted to manipulate monthly jobs report data, it would be impossible given how the data is collected, analyzed and released to the public. The White House has defended Trump's decision, with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett saying on NBC News that the job revisions "are hard evidence" in support of the president's claims. Trump said he plans to announce McEntarfer's replacement in the coming days.
UPI
3 minutes ago
- UPI
Georgetown University researcher settles with feds after arbitrary arrest
In New York City, people hold a silent vigil for those who have been detained by federal agents. On Tuesday, court documents revealed the U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement that partially resolves the nearly five-month long legal fight by a Georgetown University researcher after his arbitrary arrest in March by masked agents of U.S. Immigration Custom and Enforcement, part of President Donald Trump's hard-right immigration policy moves. File Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri was permitted to return to his job and stay in the United States after a deal was struck with the federal government as litigation plays out in court. On Tuesday, five-page court documents revealed the U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement that partially resolves the nearly five-month long legal fight after his arbitrary arrest in March by masked agents of U.S. Immigration Custom and Enforcement, part of President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration policy moves. Suri, a citizen of India, is in the United States on an academic visa and has not been charged with a crime. Tuesday's DOJ deal retroactively restored the legal status for Suri and his children but does not end efforts to deport him. He was arrested March 17 by masked ICE agents outside his apartment in Arlington, Va., in the outskirts of the nation's capital in the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and academics in expressing interest or concern over Palestinian plight in Gaza. U.S. Homeland Security's Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed on social media that Suri was "actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media." She further stated he had "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas." Suri was then sent to a Texas detention immigration detention facility. He argued in legal documents that he was likely targeted by the administration due to his marriage to a U.S. citizen of Palestinian origin and that his First Amendment rights had been violated. In May, his immediate release without bond was ordered by U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles on condition he maintain a Virginia residence and attend in person case hearings. Giles said at the hearing that his release was "in the public interest to disrupt the chilling effect on protected speech." At the time of his arrest Georgetown said university officials were "not aware" of any criminal activity. "We support our community members' rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable," a Georgetown University spokesperson told The Hill. "We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly," it added. On Tuesday, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union said Siri's legal team felt "encouraged" that the government agreed to restore the status and federal records for Suri and his family. "We know Dr. Suri is eager to rejoin the academic community at Georgetown and this will give him the opportunity to do that this fall," the ACLU's Eden Heilman told Politico.
