Chris Hayes Bursts Out Laughing When He Learns Trump Caused NYC Bank Account to Overdraft by $79.5 Million
President Donald Trump’s Federal Emergency Management Agency poached $80 million back from New York, which caused a massive overdraft in a bank account controlled by the city.
The funding was approved by the Biden administration and deposited into the account last week. After the deposit, Trump adviser Elon Musk misleadingly claimed New York spent $59 million on luxury hotels to house undocumented migrants.” In a court filing on Tuesday, FEMA’s acting administrator said the agency was concerned about potential “illegal activities” at a hotel.
In all, the clawback tallied $80 million and shocked City Comptroller Brad Lander, who said he was unaware the federal government could access the city’s account. Lander appeared on Thursday’s All In on MSNBC to discuss.
“So, yesterday morning, my chief budget deputy comptroller says, ‘$80 million is gone from the Treasury account of the Department of Finance. We think it was taken back by the federal government.'”
“Did you know they could do that?” host Chris Hayes asked.
“Never,” Lander replied, calling it “unprecedented.” He added that the city sent the federal government an invoice detailing the expenses, which the feds subsequently approved. “And then, lo and behold, they just yank it right back. It is highway robbery.”
Hayes noted the city was paid via ACH, meaning the deposit could still be canceled within a few days. Lander noted that after receiving the $80 million, the city moved the money to another account, which caused a massive overdraft when the federal government took back the money:
HAYES: Now, I want to be clear on one technical detail. I thought that we discovered that Treasury has some secret back end to the financial system to take people’s money, which seemed really worrisome. This was an ACH payment, which technically can be canceled within five days. Although anyone who’s ever gotten like a direct deposit knows that when it shows up in your bank, it’s in your bank. You have the money.
LANDER: Now, let’s be clear. I mean, we spent it last year, right? We had actually moved it over the five days since they gave it to us. So when they actually did the clawback, it caused the account to overdraft by $79.5 million.
HAYES: Bwahahahaha! I’m sure the chief financial officer was psyched about that.
LANDER: On top of that, Citibank, this is an account at Citibank charged us a $15,000 overdraft fee. I’m happy to say I reached out to Citibank and they have refunded the overdraft fee.
HAYES: Ah, that’s menschy of them.
LANDER: You better believe we’re going to keep fighting to get every penny.
Watch above via MSNBC.
