{"id":2574863,"date":"2026-03-01T07:10:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-possibly-his-fieriest-yet-sen-kennedy-absolutely-whales-on-fed-vice-chair-over-banks-persecuting-customers-with-conservative-politics\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T07:12:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:12:37","slug":"watch-possibly-his-fieriest-yet-sen-kennedy-absolutely-whales-on-fed-vice-chair-over-banks-persecuting-customers-with-conservative-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-possibly-his-fieriest-yet-sen-kennedy-absolutely-whales-on-fed-vice-chair-over-banks-persecuting-customers-with-conservative-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Possibly His Fieriest Yet &#8211; Sen. Kennedy Absolutely Whales on Fed Vice Chair Over Banks Persecuting Customers With Conservative Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">42<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-possibly-his-fieriest-yet-sen-kennedy-absolutely-whales-on-fed-vice-chair-over-banks-persecuting-customers-with-conservative-politics%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2574863&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on rightsizing regulation, seeking explanations for banks\u2019 closures of conservative and firearms-industry accounts and asking why such \u201cdebanking\u201d was allowed. He argued that banks acted on political or reputational risk rather than legitimate business concerns, even offering hypothetical examples (including Sen. Warren) to illustrate how politics could influence banking decisions. The hearing followed President Donald Trump\u2019s public rebuke of Bank of America over alleged debanking of conservatives at the World Economic Forum. The article also notes that First Lady Melania Trump wrote that she and her son were debanked, and that Trump has said he would sue JPMorgan Chase over account closures after Jan. 6, 2021. Bowman replied that she wasn\u2019t the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/economists-push-for-another-round-of-stimulus-checks\/\" title=\"Economists Push for Another Round of Stimulus Checks\">vice chair<\/a> at the time and defended broad access to financial services, saying debanking is inappropriate and that Americans should not be denied services for political beliefs or disfavored but legal businesses. The piece traces the practice to the Obama-era Operation Chokepoint, which pressured banks to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >drop firearms-industry clients<\/a>, and notes that some banks continued such pressure even after Trump-era pauses. The content is published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana demanded an explanation from a high-ranking Federal Reserve official about debanking conservatives during a Thursday hearing.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump chewed out Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan during a speech at the World Economic Forum in January 2025 over the company&rsquo;s alleged &ldquo;debanking&rdquo; of conservatives for their political beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy asked Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman about why the agency allowed banks to close the accounts of conservatives and firearms manufacturers during the Senate Banking Committee&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.banking.senate.gov\/hearings\/02\/19\/2026\/update-from-the-prudential-regulators-rightsizing-regulation-to-promote-american-opportunity\">hearing<\/a> on &ldquo;rightsizing regulation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What in God&rsquo;s name was the Fed and some of your other agencies thinking when you allowed banks to debank customers for reputational risk? Are you kidding me? Why did you allow that to happen?&rdquo; a visibly angry Kennedy asked Bowman. &ldquo;Because you didn&rsquo;t like their politics or you didn&rsquo;t like the products they made.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I mean, do you think it would be fair &mdash; Senator Warren&rsquo;s not here, so I hesitate to talk about it &mdash; Senator Warren was a distinguished professor at Harvard University. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/strong-turnout-in-frances-high-stakes-elections-as-support-for-the-far-right-grows-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Strong turnout in France\u2019s high-stakes elections as support for the far right grows - Washington Examiner\">people don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t like Harvard. Some people don&rsquo;t like their politics,&rdquo; Kennedy continued. &ldquo;How could you possibly allow a bank to have the option &mdash; I&rsquo;m not saying they did it &mdash; but to debank someone like Senator Warren &mdash; I&rsquo;m using her as a hypothetical example &mdash; because you didn&rsquo;t like her politics. And you can say the same thing about gun manufacturers and oil and gas and anybody you don&rsquo;t like, and you let the banks do it. What in God&rsquo;s name were you all thinking, Madam Vice Chair?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>First Lady Melania Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/cei.org\/opeds_articles\/debanking-may-be-a-problem-for-melania-trump-and-many-others\/\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;in her memoir that she and her son Barron were debanked, but she did not name the institution that closed her accounts. Trump said in January he would sue JPMorgan Chase over the financial institution closing accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion at the U.S. Capitol building.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Senator, I appreciate your concerns and I  them. I was not the vice chair at the time those decisions were made,&rdquo; Bowman said, with Kennedy responding, &ldquo;I know that. But your institution went along with it. The banks proposed it and your institution sucked it up like a Hoover Deluxe.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In my view, debanking is never an appropriate activity,&rdquo; Bowman replied. &ldquo;It is &mdash; every American in this country should have access to financial services and they should not be limited from access to those services based on their political, religious beliefs or their engagement in a particular business that may be disfavored but is legally &mdash; legally allowed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Obama administration launched &ldquo;Operation Chokepoint,&rdquo; which used the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to pressure banks to deny companies in the firearms industry financial services.<\/p>\n<p>While the first Trump administration halted the practice, some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/executives-behind-failed-banks-tell-lawmakers-why-the-companies-collapsed\/\" title=\"Failed bank executives explain collapse to lawmakers.\">financial institutions continued<\/a> to pressure companies in the firearms industry to adopt certain practices or face the closure of their accounts for years afterwards.<\/p>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a concise paraphrase of the article\u2019s main points:<\/p>\n<p>During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on \u201crightsizing regulation,\u201d Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman to explain why banks allegedly closed the accounts of conservatives and firearms manufacturers, asking whether political views or the nature of those businesses influenced such actions. He suggested that debanking could be used to punish people for their politics, drawing a hypothetical comparison to Senator Elizabeth Warren and other disfavored groups or industries.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, President Donald Trump criticized Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan at the World Economic Forum over what he described as conservatives being debanked for their beliefs. The piece also notes that First Lady Melania Trump claimed in her memoir that she and her son Barron were debanked, though she did not name the institution; Trump has said he would sue JPMorgan Chase over account closures following the January 6, 2021 incident.<\/p>\n<p>Bowman defended the bank decisions, saying she did not participate in those actions and emphasizing that debanking is inappropriate and that all Americans should have access to financial services regardless of political or religious beliefs or legal but disfavored activities. She asserted that banks should not deny services based on politics or disfavored business lines.<\/p>\n<p>The article also recalls the Obama-era Operation Chokepoint, which used the FDIC to pressure banks to cut financial services to the firearms industry. Although the Trump administration ended the program, some financial institutions continued pressuring firearms-related businesses for years afterward.<\/p>\n<p>Note: The piece includes standard attribution and licensing language from the Daily Caller News Foundation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2574864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-02-27T102157.523.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[74821,74822,74823,71635,74820],"class_list":["post-2574863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-banking-regulation","tag-conservative-politics-2","tag-fed-vice-chair","tag-federal-reserve-2","tag-sen-kennedy-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-02-27T102157.523.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574863"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574867,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574863\/revisions\/2574867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}