Bank of America claims they would 'never' debank conservatives after Trump calls them out—X users call foul

Bank of America, on Thursday, issued a tweet in response to remarks by President Donald Trump, saying "Bank of America serves more than 70 million clients and we welcome conservatives. We would never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political litmus test." Many on X called foul, pointing to the times that Bank of America customers had been debanked.

"This is total BS from Bank of America," Charlie Kirk said. "I know dozens of people who lost their bank accounts due to their association with Trump. This is a lie and the new Trump administration should do an investigation into this. We have the receipts."

Trump called out the banks who had been debanking conservatives on Thursday in an address, saying "I hope you start opening your banks to conservatives because many conservatives complained that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America. They don't take conservative business. And I don't know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie [Dimon, head of JP Morgan Chase], and everyone else I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong."

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan "side-stepped Trump’s allegations, instead turning his focus on to his firm’s sponsorship of the 2026 FIFA World Cup," the New York Post noted.

Senior Counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom Jeremy Tedesco said "Everyone needs access to basic financial services no matter their political or religious beliefs. Unfortunately, as [President Trump] points out, major banks like [Bank of America] and Chase have been at the forefront of a very troubling trend of politicized debanking."

"This trend has real victims—some of them with the last name 'Trump.' Other victims include Ugandan widows and orphans served by Memphis-based Indigenous Advance, which was debanked by [Bank of America] along with a supporting church. Realizing our new Golden Age requires solving this dire threat to our freedom," he concluded.

The ADF has collected many instances of debanking, including Indigenous Advance, Nigel Farage, Sam Brownback, Moms for Liberty, Lance Wallnau, Timothy Two Project, The Ruth Institute, Arkansas Family Council, Defense of Liberty, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Dr. Colin Wright, Ian Miles Cheong, The Free Speech Union, Andrew Sorrell, Virginia Christian Alliance, Zulfat Suara, and Core Issues Trust.

Kanye West was public about his debanking, as well. In Melania Trump's new book, she said her own son, Barron, 18, was refused for an account from a lender after Trump's first White House term. Tech mogul Marc Andreessen called out debanking as well, which he said has been used repeatedly against crypto founders and startups, as well as creators and those who have "certain political beliefs."

"The implications of debanking, with its roots in Operation Choke Point, pose a direct threat to the creator economy—a sector poised to inject half a trillion dollars into the economy by 2027. If we want to grow our way out of debt and inflation, supporting the financial freedom of these creators is not optional. It’s essential," Forbes said.

Community Notes came through with receipts on Bank of America's post. Bank of America was contacted by Attorney General for the state of Virginia Jason Miyares, who joined a 15-state coalition in 2024 to demand that Bank of America "provide a written report about its account policies and practices, update its terms of service to state that it does not discriminate against customers for their religious or political views or speech, and remove prohibitions on 'intolerance' and 'hate' from its online banking service agreement."

"Bank of America’s blatant discrimination against account holders whose political and religious ideologies don’t align with its own is appalling and un-American. As Attorney General, I will protect the constitutional liberties of all Virginians," said Miyares at the time. "Bank of America should clean up its act or prepare to reckon with potential litigation."

The letter also points out that "the nation’s second largest bank also voluntarily cooperated with the FBI and U.S. Treasury to profile conservative and religious Americans as potential domestic terrorists."

The House Judiciary committee subpoenaed Bank of America for "information on sharing customers' private financial data with the FBI." The Committee said "In its June 22, 2023, letter to the Committee, BoA asserted that its actions 'were within a legal process initiated by the United States Department of the Treasury.' Contrary to these assertions, however, documents on file with the Committee and Select Subcommittee indicate that the FBI—not the U.S. Department of the Treasury—initiated contact directly to BoA, and without legal process.

Tucker Carlson pointed out the issues with Bank of America back in 2021, when it was revealed that the bank provided information to law enforcement about people who had rented hotel rooms or taken flights to Washington, DC around January 6 of that year. When contacted by Carlson's team, the bank said they would not comment on conversations with law enforcement. "What they did may be illegal," Carlson said, saying that they "spied on their own customers for political reasons." It is unclear if law enforcement obtained a warrant to obtain customer records.

Many on X responded to Bank of America's claim.