‘I don’t need banks’: Trump hits back at reports of Deutsche Bank’s red flags
US President Donald Trump has hit back at reports Deutsche Bank employees flagged suspicious transactions by the president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The New York Times reported that anti-money laundering specialists at the bank recommended transactions by legal entities controlled by the pair be reported to a federal crimes watchdog.
Read more: Deutsche Bank staff flagged Trump and Kushner activity as suspicious
Deutsche Bank executives ignored the recommendations, according to the report.
Trump blasted the report as “phony” and said the bank was “very good and highly professional.”
In a flurry of Tweets earlier today, Trump also denied receiving money from Russia and said he doesn’t need banks.
He said: “The fake news media keep writing phony stories about how I didn’t use many banks because they didn’t want to do business with me.
“Wrong! It is because I didn’t need money.”
The President added: “Now the new big story is that Trump made a lot of money and buys everything for cash, he doesn’t need banks.
“But where did he get all of that cash? Could it be Russia? No, I built a great business and don’t need banks, but if I did they would be there… and Deutsche Bank was very good and highly professional to deal with.”
Former Deutsche Bank employees told the New York Times that the lack of action on the anti-money laundering experts’ recommendations chimed with the bank’s weak approach to money laundering laws.
The bank has been fined billions over Russian money laundering.
Trump has a long history of partnership with Deutsche Bank, which is believed to have lent him around $2bn (£1.6bn), with hundreds of millions still owed to the German bank.
Both congressional and state authorities are looking into the links between Trump and Deutsche.
Trump sued the bank in April in an attempt to block it from handing over documents to congress.
A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said: “At no time was an investigator prevented from escalating activity identified as potentially suspicious.”
Read more: Trump sues Deutsche Bank and Capital One to block financial records release
A Trump Organization spokeswoman said: “We have no knowledge of any ‘flagged’ transactions with Deutsche Bank.”
A spokeswoman for Kushner Companies said: “Any allegations regarding Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Kushner Companies which involved money laundering is completely made up and totally false.”