John Eastman says Bank of America, USAA will not tell him why he was debanked

Former attorney to Donald Trump, John Eastman, alleged that both Bank of America and USAA have debanked him, closing his accounts in the aftermath of his involvement in advising Trump around the 2020 election.

According to an exclusive report by the Daily Caller, in September 2023, Bank of America sent a letter to Eastman informing him of the closure of his bank accounts. Following this, USAA, two months later, notified Eastman of the closure of his accounts with the company. USAA cited its Depository Agreement as the basis for its decision, citing its right to ”no longer do banking business” with customers. 

“We may close your account for any reason without advance notice. We may require you to give us a minimum of seven (7) calendar days advance written notice when you intend to close your account by withdrawing your funds,” USAA’s Depository Agreement states.

According to Eastman, when he asked these two banking institutions why his accounts were closed, both said it was policy to not give out more information.

“And then two months later, we get a similar letter from USAA saying that they’ve decided that they’re going to close your account and they did like three weeks later,” Eastman explained to the Daily Caller. “And so that was where all of our automatic payments were coming out of, all our automatic deposits. So it was a real pain to shift everything. We had to get a new bank account opened and shift everything over.”

Eastman clarified that his accounts with Bank of America and USAA were used for personal finances. He explained that despite having accounts with Bank of America for approximately 40 years, he began switching over to USAA because of the “wokeness” at Bank of America. 

“We had Bank of America accounts for about 40 years. But just because of their wokeness we kind of quit a couple of years ago, using them much. They’ve got physical locations and therefore easy ATM, so we kept our accounts there, but we didn’t use much. And about four or five years ago, we opened USAA bank accounts and we were using those as our primaries,” said Eastman. 

When approached by the Daily Caller for comment on the situation, Bank of America's media relations representative, Bill Haldin, declined to provide a specific response, stating, "Just as a general policy, we don’t comment on client matters."

The closure of Eastman’s bank accounts is part of a broader concern that debanking could be more common if financial institutions choose to target those with a right-wing ideological worldview.

“No American should lose their bank account because banks want to play politics. Time and time again, we are seeing banks target and cut off those they disagree with and refuse to explain why. That is unacceptable,” said Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, per the Daily Caller.