WASHINGTON: Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions Monday as part of investigations into President Donald Trump’s finances.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-California, said in a statement that the subpoenas are part of an investigation “into allegations of potential foreign influence on the US political process.”
Schiff did not name the other financial institutions or describe the subpoenas.
House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a separate statement that “the potential use of the US financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern.” She said her committee is looking into those matters, including whether they pertain to Trump.
It was unclear exactly what the committees asked for. The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the president’s personal and political life, and Schiff has said he is investigating whether foreign actors, including Russia, have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates.
Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of The Trump Organization, said in a statement released Monday that the subpoenas were “an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the President and our family for political gain.”
As part of his investigation, Schiff has said he wants to know whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trump’s businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years.
Deutsche Bank is a German asset management firm that has lent Trump’s real estate organization millions of dollars over time. The two committees have been working with the bank for several weeks, and both Waters and Schiff have said officials have been cooperative. Schiff said in his statement that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank is a “friendly” subpoena, meaning he expects them to continue working with the committees.
The request comes as a third committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, is sparring with the White House over Trump’s tax returns.
House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has set a deadline of April 23 for six years of returns. But Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has said Democrats will “never” see the returns, “nor should they,” and “they know it.”
Democrats subpoena banks as they probe Trump finances
Democrats subpoena banks as they probe Trump finances
- The investigations are among several House Democrats are conducting into aspects of the president’s personal and political life.
- Trump son lash at subpoenas as “an unprecedented abuse of power" by the Democrats
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
