EXCLUSIVE: Corporate Watchdog Commends Major Banks For Taking Steps To Prevent Political, Religious ‘Debanking’
'Preserving financial freedoms'
New Classical College Welcomes Back War Hero Professor After Resolved Visa Snafu
While Harold Ristau's new professorship was not part of the college's original budget for this year, the trustees unanimously approved the position.Finally, A President Is Standing Up To Woke Banks
The American people deserve financial institutions that serve all law-abiding citizens, not just those who align with the ruling class’s preferred ideology.Trump cracks down on big banks for discriminating against conservatives
President Donald Trump is once again clamping down on government weaponization, this time against corrupt and discriminatory financial institutions.
Some big banks have a steady track record of participating in "government-directed" surveillance programs that single out and punish conservatives. Under former President Joe Biden's administration, some banks were directed to flag individuals who made transactions that involved terms like "Trump" or "MAGA" or with companies like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop.
'Such practices are incompatible with a free society.'
In response to this abuse, Trump's signed an executive order Thursday that will prohibit politically motivated debanking and protect hardworking Americans.
"Individuals, their businesses, and their families have been subjected to debanking on the basis of their political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities and have suffered frozen payrolls, debt, and crushing interest and other significant harms to their livelihoods, reputations, and financial well-being," the executive order read.
RELATED: Biden admin has been using banking institutions to spy on Americans without warrants: House report
🚨President Trump has just signed an executive order to prohibit financial institutions from debanking conservatives pic.twitter.com/gcYoRrn7ir
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 7, 2025
"Such practices are incompatible with a free society and the principle that the provision of banking services should be based on material, measurable, and justifiable risks," the executive order continued.
Financial officers across the country came out in support of the executive order, commending Trump for "restoring viewpoint neutrality."
“President Trump’s executive action directly confronts this abuse of regulatory authority," a joint statement from 32 state financial officers reads. "By reaffirming that banks must evaluate customers based on objective financial criteria, not political or religious views, his leadership marks a crucial step toward restoring viewpoint neutrality and putting an end to unlawful discrimination in our financial sector.”
"We stand ready to support these efforts to secure a just and impartial financial future for all Americans," the statement reads. "Let us send a clear message: Discriminatory debanking stops now."
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Daily Wire's Michael Knowles faces de-banking over alleged 'legally binding order'
A major payment processing platform revealed that it halted payouts to a Daily Wire political commentator due to "a legally binding order."
On Monday, Michael Knowles accused payment platform Stripe of possibly "de-banking" him. He speculated that the suspension was a reaction to his political opinions.
'Looking forward to resolving this issue with Tennessee.'
"Hi, @Stripe. Are we still doing this de-banking thing? Was it something I said?" Knowles wrote. "If we say that men can't be women, if we donate to pro-life charities, if we oppose two men buying eggs, renting wombs, and commoditizing babies."
"Does that come at the cost of de-banking?" he questioned.
In a multi-post thread, the Daily Wire host explained that payments from his monetized X account "abruptly stopped" six months ago. Assuming it was "an innocent mistake," he reached out to Stripe's user support to rectify the issue.
Stripe's support team confirmed that it had "temporarily disabled" his payouts, stating that it sent a message to X in October with more details about the pause, according to screenshots uploaded by Knowles.
The payment platform reportedly instructed him to contact X directly to obtain more information.
"I would recommend contacting your platform for more information, as we can't provide any further information on this account hold," a screenshot of a support email reads.
Knowles said that he then asked X for assistance on the matter, but its team referred him back to Stripe.
"We have confirmed this issue is not on our end — and you will need to login [sic] to Stripe and contact them to sort this out," an X team member reportedly wrote.
Knowles concluded that Stripe's decision to suspend his account was likely a retaliatory act due to his political views, emphasizing that he had not violated any of the platform's stated "prohibited businesses" rules.
"Since I haven't been distributing fake IDs, selling drugs, or jamming telecommunications equipment, it seems Stripe concluded that my political opinions had somehow violated their policy against encouraging 'unlawful violence' against certain demographics," Knowles stated. "Of course, I've never encouraged 'unlawful violence' against anyone. But in the absence of any real explanation from Stripe, I can only conclude that they've now decided that certain conservative opinions amount to 'illegal' activity."
RELATED: Major bank announces end of de-banking policies on guns and political affiliation
Stripe responded to Knowles, requesting that he contact them directly to resolve the issue.
A few hours later, Stripe reached out again, offering additional information about the circumstances surrounding the pause. Yet its second post raised more questions than it answered.
"By way of follow-up, we can confirm that the restrictions placed on your account were not taken unilaterally by Stripe, but were the result of a legally binding order that was issued to us. Our support team previously reached out to X regarding this matter. In order to maintain your privacy, we are following up with you in a separate email with additional information," Stripe wrote.
While it remains unclear what the order pertains to, Knowles provided an update on the issue on Tuesday afternoon.
"I'm pleased to say Stripe has reached out to resolve this strange issue, which appears to have begun with a government administrative error rather than intentional de-banking," Knowles wrote. "As we investigate, I'm even more pleased to say that we're also exploring legislative solutions to the lack of transparency that often makes these issues unresolvable for countless Americans. Will discuss more on the show and keep everyone posted as this develops."
Stripe responded, stating, "Thanks for working with us. Looking forward to resolving this issue with Tennessee. At Stripe, our role is to process payments — we do not take action on accounts based on political speech."
When reached for comment, Stripe referred Blaze News to its response to Knowles on X.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
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Financial Giant USAA Gets Downgraded After Debanking Trump Lawyer, Going Woke
Once a low-cost haven for service members, veterans, and their families, USAA’s troubles suggest a company prioritizing leftist ideology over its mission.Major bank announces end of de-banking policies on guns and political affiliation
After years of criticism from the right about unfair "de-banking" practices, a major U.S. bank announced the end of the policy as it relates to political affiliation and gun sales.
Citigroup announced that they changed their firearms policies, which had been instituted after the heinous 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
'The American people are sick and tired of woke corporations discriminating against conservatives and gun owners!'
"We appreciate the concerns that are being raised regarding 'fair access' to banking services, and we are following regulatory developments, recent executive orders and federal legislation that impact this area," the bank said in a statement.
The statement said Citigroup had updated its employee code of conduct to ensure that no one was discriminated against on the basis of their political affiliation.
Among those who claimed they were the targets of political de-banking were first lady Melania Trump and Eric Trump, who said the Trump Organization had been negatively affected.
In October, the first lady recalled in an interview the shock she felt on finding out a bank had “suddenly informed me they will not be able to do business with me anymore.”
She also said that a university returned her money when she tried to contribute to a philanthropic effort to fund scholarships for foster kids.
“They didn’t want to do business with me because of political affiliation, my political beliefs," she added.
RELATED: Trump confronts Bank of America CEO at World Economic Forum: 'What you're doing is wrong'
The president's son commented on de-banking in March.
"The decision by Capital One to 'debank' our company, after well over a decade, was a clear attack on free speech and free enterprise that flies in the face of the bedrock principles and freedoms that define our country," Eric Trump wrote. "Moreover, the arbitrary closure of these accounts, without justifiable cause, reflects a broader effort to silence and undermine the success of the Trump Organization and those who dare to express their political views."
Donald Trump Jr. praised the development from Citi on social media.
"WINNING: After years of doing the bidding of the woke left & targeting our 2nd Amendment rights, Citi Bank has finally folded," he wrote. "The American people are sick and tired of woke corporations discriminating against conservatives and gun owners!"
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New Laws Restrict Indiana Treasurer Who Protects Americans From Debanking
The banking industry is attempting to take programs from Indiana's state treasurer because he works to protect Christians and conservatives.Bill Targets Indiana Treasurer Who Stops Banks From Canceling Christians, Gun Owners
Indiana's treasurer helped push banks to back down on canceling conservatives, and now a banker-backed bill would strip his office's powers.‘Fair Access’ Bill Would Finally Stop Activist Banks From Discriminating Against Conservatives
Financial institutions don't have authority to silence political or religious individuals or groups with whom they don’t agree.Today's top stories
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