Bank Executives Admit Obama and Biden Pressured Them to Target Conservatives

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday banning banks from denying services to individuals or organizations on the basis of political or religious views, following years of complaints about so-called “debanking.”

The order, titled Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans, prohibits banks from using “reputational risk” as a justification for denying financial services.

The directive comes after multiple reports of conservative and religious organizations claiming they were targeted by banking regulators and institutions.

In interviews with Fox News Digital, senior banking executives alleged that during the Obama and Biden administrations, regulators pressured banks to restrict services to certain industries and individuals.

“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,” one executive said.

Executives pointed to federal initiatives such as Operation Choke Point, a Department of Justice program that began under Obama.

The program, according to a House Oversight Committee report, worked with regulators to classify certain legal businesses, including firearms dealers, as “high risk.”

Trump ended Operation Choke Point in 2017.

However, lawmakers accused the Biden administration of reviving the practice under the label “Operation Choke Point 2.0” and targeting cryptocurrency companies.

Another executive explained how banks responded to regulatory preferences.

“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.

Trump himself has said he was a victim of debanking, claiming banks including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America refused to accept more than $1 billion in deposits.

First Lady Melania Trump wrote in her memoir that she and her son Barron were also denied banking services.

“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,” she wrote.

Bank of America responded in a statement to Fox News Digital: “We welcome the Trump administration’s efforts to provide regulatory clarity to banks. We’ve provided detailed proposals and will continue to work with the administration and Congress to improve the regulatory framework.”

Former Senator Sam Brownback also accused JPMorgan Chase of debanking his nonprofit, the National Committee for Religious Freedom, in 2022.

JPMorgan has denied closing accounts for political reasons but updated its code of conduct in 2025 to state explicitly that it does not discriminate on political or religious grounds.

“We don’t close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said.

Tim Schwarzenberger, CFA, of Inspire Investing, has worked on efforts to combat debanking.

He said banks often used “reputational risk” as a reason to close accounts.

“The executive order really is a breakthrough moment,” he told Fox News Digital.

Executives added that negative press was considered part of “reputational risk” and was frequently used against conservatives.

One senior banker said the combination of lawsuits and unfavorable coverage of Trump between 2020 and 2024 gave regulators a pretext to push banks to deny services.

“It’s all kind of set up, it’s like somebody set the table, and it all ends up focusing on Republicans and conservatives,” the official said.

Executives said regulators pressured banks to file increasing numbers of suspicious activity reports, which often led to account closures.

They noted banks would sometimes preemptively reject clients to avoid regulatory conflict.

“It’s better for us to just not take on certain business if we suspect an examiner can come in and say six months ago you shouldn’t have taken this client,” one executive said.

Despite years of disputes, Schwarzenberger said there are reasons for optimism. He noted that before Trump’s order, several banks had already pledged not to deny services on political or religious grounds.

JPMorgan, Bank of America, CitiGroup, and PNC Bank have all issued statements confirming their commitments.

Citi referred Fox News Digital to a June statement that said the bank “has always been fully committed to treating all current and potential clients fairly, and we have policies, procedures and controls in place for this express purpose.”

With Trump’s executive order now in effect, banks are barred from using political criteria in service decisions, and regulators will be limited in their ability to pressure financial institutions through informal guidance.