‘Allow Me To Finish a Thought!’ CNN NewsNight Panel Explodes Over Report of Money Laundering Probe on Trump Accounts
CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip erupted into a shouting match Monday night over the disclosure that Capital One closed hundreds of accounts tied to the Trump Organization following an internal anti-money laundering review.
The report, first revealed in a Friday court filing, says the account closures followed a months-long anti-money laundering review rather than any politically motivated effort to “debank” the Trump Organization, as President Donald Trump’s family business has alleged in its lawsuit against the bank.
As explained by CNN’s Abby Phillip Monday, “There’s a group of people at this bank that they’re required to have, looking at these accounts, and they’re saying, ‘Suspicious stuff is happening here.'”
The National Review’s Noah Rothman was next to chime in, along with the New York Post’s Lydia Moynihan and Substack author Touré.
Read a transcript of the exchange below:
ROTHMAN: Hang on, let’s actually talk about this case, because I think it’s pretty disturbing. Let’s take the president out of this. Let’s take the Trump Organization out of this — fraught as this is. Imagine any public official in public life — Democratic, Republican — who has a presence in the private enterprise, has a business, and your bank can just have an accusation of financial laundering and shut you down.
PHILLIP: 100%. Hold on a second. Um, Noah, have you opened a bank account in America? Because if you’ve opened a bank account in America, you sign documents —
ROTHMAN: I’m talking about the report. Allow me to finish a thought!
PHILLIP: Noah, if you open a bank account of any kind in the United States of America, you are agreeing that the bank can close your accounts if they suspect that there is nefarious stuff going on
ROTHMAN: The Trump Organization is not challenging that.
PHILLIP: They can close it just because they want to close it.
ROTHMAN: Just to finish a thought! The Trump Organization is not contesting that, and it’s not contesting anything you said, Abby. What it is contesting is that it was told that it had financial fraud on this account and had no recourse. They were just simply shut down, and you have to move your money elsewhere. I’m sorry that’s perfectly fine with you.
MOYNIHAN: This is so crazy, though, that —
TOURÉ: The president is committing money laundering, and we’re talking about something else? What are you talking about?
MOYNIHAN: Wait, wait, wait. You’re claiming that the president is committing money laundering?
Watch the full clip above via CNN.
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