- Key insight: Last year, Eric Trump and the Trump Organization sued Capital One for closing hundreds of accounts following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
- What's at stake: President Trump recently tapped Brian Johnson, a senior vice president at Capital One, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
- Expert quote: "It would be helpful to understand whether or not the Trump family still sees Capital One as an illegal de-banker." —Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Ahead of a Senate hearing on the nomination of a Capital One Financial executive to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is putting pressure on the Trump Organization, which has alleged it was illegally "debanked" by Capital One.
Warren, D-Mass., and the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter Thursday to the president's son Eric, who's an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, asking whether the company plans to refile a lawsuit against Capital One.
President Trump has alleged that Capital One illegally closed bank accounts held by the Trump family five years ago, saying that the McLean, Virginia-based lender has "woke" beliefs and closed the accounts based on political discrimination after the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
"It would be helpful to understand whether or not the Trump family still sees Capital One as an illegal de-banker," Warren wrote. "Until last year, the CFPB was playing a critical role to stop unfair de-banking."
Last month, the president
"Given your father's seemingly strongly-held beliefs on de-banking, I assume that he would nominate a senior executive at Capital One to this position only if the Trump Organization no longer believes that Capital One was a 'woke' organization that de-banked the Trump family," Warren wrote.
Eric Trump has until July 13 to submit a response to Warren as part of the record for Johnson's nomination hearing. To be clear, the president's son is under no legal obligation to respond to Warren's inquiry. Because Democrats are in the minority, Warren lacks the power to issue subpoenas to compel testimony.
Lawmakers frequently use public letters to generate media attention ahead of confirmation battles. Warren is ramping up pressure to derail or at least damage Johnson's pending nomination. At the confirmation hearing, she is expected to subject him to tough questioning and pursue a line of attack related to
Warren alleged that Johnson, the incoming CFPB nominee, opposed several rules that would aid in rooting out debanking based on political affiliation, religious views, or other free speech.
The letter appears to target both Johnson and his Republican backers in the Senate.
"In recent months, your father's opinion has been very important to my Republican colleagues," Warren wrote. "Given the Trump family's allegations against Capital One and the role the CFPB would play in addressing concerns about de-banking, it would be helpful for the committee to understand your views on Capital One as it considers Mr. Johnson's nomination."
Though a federal judge in Miami
The stakes go beyond the Trump family's feud.
Warren came up with the idea for the CFPB and helped stand up the agency after it was created by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. She then ran for Congress and was elected in 2012.
Early in his second term in office, Trump said that his goal was
"Unfortunately, Acting CFPB Director Russ Vought halted CFPB rulemaking, enforcement investigations, and litigation against lawbreaking financial institutions," Warren wrote. "The freeze makes it harder to prevent de-banking and has increased costs for American families."
