Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese ripped Wednesday on Real America’s Voice the “de-banking” of former President Donald Trump attorney John Eastman and other Christian groups.
Reese appeared on “The War Room” to discuss a recent report on how the Bank of America and financial service company USAA closed Eastman’s accounts without warning. Eastman revealed to the Daily Caller that over several months he had been dropped from the two federally insured prominent financial institutions, which he blames on “political retaliation.”
Before Reese’s interview, show host Natalie Winters began by playing the audio recording of Bank of America refusing to tell Eastman why his accounts were shut down. Winters questioned the breakdown of the report and the warning it sends to Americans. (RELATED: ‘Rather Despicable’: John Eastman Speaks Out After Bank Of America, USAA Shut Down His Accounts)
“This de-banking trend, this appears to be the new front of Democratic lawfare,” Reese stated. “So to break it down, John Eastman was first notified in September 2023 that his Bank of America account was going to be closed and that they could not provide him any details on why they were choosing to do so. They said, ‘If you want more details, feel free to give us a call.’ When he goes to give them a call, there’s that audio – they say actually, it’s our policy that we can’t tell you anything else. And this was after he had been in business with Bank of America for about 40 years.”
“Well, two months later, USAA – that company that’s famously known for banking with military families and ensuring military families – also moved to close his account without any details provided,” Reese continued. “We went to Bank of America and USAA after we had obtained the letters from John Eastman confirming that his accounts had been closed without warning. Bank of America initially said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna give you a comment by your deadline.’ We provided them two days to do so and to get back to us. And then about an hour before my deadline, they got back to me and said, ‘You know, actually we don’t comment on client matters.’ USAA never responded to me.”
“I followed up three times, and I even followed up once more after my deadline had passed to be like, ‘Hey, this is the last time I’m gonna follow up, are you sure you don’t want to provide any sort of comment?’…John Eastman was about, when I talked to him, 99% confident that this was political retaliation after everything he’s been through – after he provided legal advice to President Trump in the wake of the 2020 election. This was just another bump in the road for him that he just saw it as another way for the left to attack him,” Reese stated.
The Daily Caller reporter said in addition to Eastman, the Foundation of Government Accountability revealed they’ve seen similar situations happen to “a lot of Christian groups.” The accountability group noted that Bank of America is allegedly “known” for these types of actions, with Reese warning about the “chilling effect” it could have on many Americans and the way they bank.
“I spoke to the Foundation of Government Accountability, and they told me that they have seen this with a lot of Christian groups, actually. Christian nonprofits who have been de-banked and haven’t been given a reason. Bank of America, they pointed to, is actually known for kind of doing this to Americans,” Reese stated.
“You know, it’s dangerous because when Americans’ bank accounts are closed without any reason, and they lose access to their finances, and they’re not able to feed their families or pay their bills,” she went on. “And there might be just even the slightest indication, even if the bank maybe doesn’t provide a reason, but there’s that thought in their mind that maybe this is political, that has such a chilling effect.”
“Americans will become concerned that maybe they shouldn’t speak out about their beliefs, their faith in who they are out of risk that they might lose their relationship with the bank. A lot of people don’t have much of a choice to switch banks. It might just be the bank that’s the closest down the road – that might be Bank of America – and you might be at risk,” Reese said.
In late March, a California attorney discipline judge released an opinion recommending Eastman be disbarred after the former Trump lawyer was accused by the State Bar of California of allegedly harming the country through election interference in 2020 by attempting to help disrupt the transfer of power after President Joe Biden won.
The recommendation will be brought forward to the U.S. Supreme Court which will have the final decision in the lawyer’s case.