Report: 13 Banks Helped Feds Spy on Trump Supporters

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At least 13 financial institutions helped the Biden administration spy on Donald Trump supporters without a warrant in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

House Republicans opened an investigation into the practice in January, with six banks linked to helping the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) with surveillance of bank records. The Daily Mail’s report uncovered seven more banking firms.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed in January that federal investigators with FinCEN instructed the institutions to comb through customer transactions for key terms like “MAGA” and “Trump.”

Feds were spying on supporters of Trump and on Americans who made purchases at stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops, and Cabela’s, as well as those who bought religious books such as the Bible.

The Weaponization panel, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to the institutions asking for documents and communications related to the spying efforts, according to the report.

“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism,’” read the letters, obtained by the Daily Mail.

Bank of America, Chase, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank, and Truist were already being investigated by GOP lawmakers. Charles Schwab, HSBC, MUFG, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered, and Western Union have been added to the probe, according to the report.

“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.

Yellen in early February ducked questions about the effort from Republicans at two different hearings on Capitol Hill.

“I will get back to you with more detailed information when I’ve had a chance to study this thoroughly,” she reportedly said at the Senate hearing, acknowledging that it happened but before she took office.

“I promise a thorough look into everything,” Yellen told a House hearing.

Bank of America sent data on 211 individuals to FinCEN and the FBI on Jan. 17, 2021, via a suspicious activity report (SAR) after being asked to look for the key terms, according to the Daily Mail.

“Given this coordination, the Committee and Select Subcommittee are concerned that the federal government, through the FBI and FinCEN, sent similar or identical thresholds to other financial institutions that manipulated the SAR filing process to elicit the information and transaction history of individuals without any allegation of federal criminal conduct,” Jordan’s letter to Yellen read, according to the report.