House Panels Subpoena Deutsche Bank, Others

By WSJ City 

Two House panels have issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions, as Democrats continued to pursue an inquiry into President Trump's financial interests.

The subpoenas from the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee and House Financial Services Committee came just days before the expected release of a report from special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian meddling in the 2016 election and any connection to the Trump campaign.

KEY FACTS

--- House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a statement that his panel issued subpoenas to "multiple financial institutions" in coordination with the Financial Services Committee.

--- That included a "friendly subpoena to Deutsche Bank, which has been cooperative with the Committees."

--- The lawmakers didn't name the other financial institutions.

Backstory

Deutsche Bank's relationship with Trump goes back decades. Since 1998, the bank has led or participated in loans of at least $2.5bn to companies affiliated with Trump, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

In 2017, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Maxine Waters and House Democrats repeatedly called for Deutsche Bank to disclose details of any ties to Russia, Trump and related client accounts. Deutsche Bank rebuffed the House requests at the time, which lacked Republican support.

The Responses

In a statement, Deutsche Bank said it is "engaged in a productive dialogue with the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committee." The German company said it "remain[s] committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations in a manner consistent with our legal obligations."

A spokesperson for the White House couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the probes launched by House Democrats earlier this year "presidential harassment."

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2019 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)

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