US Democrats renew efforts to link banks, Trump and Russia

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, accompanied by other House Democrats, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday to renew calls for a vote on an independent commission to investigate Russia's election meddling and ties to the Trump administration and also says that presidential adviser Jared Kushner's security clearance should be revoked. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FRANKFURT: A small group of Democrat members of the US Congress have renewed their efforts to find possible links between banks such as Germany’s Deutsche Bank, US President Donald Trump and Russia.
Investigations are being conducted in the US into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Russia when he was running for president in 2016. The White House and the Kremlin have denied there was any interference in the election.
Maxine Waters, ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, told reporters she had filed a resolution of inquiry demanding the US Treasury Secretary hand over documents in his possession, “relating to President Trump’s financial connections to Russia, certain illegal financial schemes, and related information.”
The resolution asked for any records of loans or credit from a number of banks — including Deutsche Bank and Russian lenders Sberbank and Gazprombank — to Trump, some of his closest family members and a list of associates.
A resolution of inquiry is a legislative tool by which the House can get information from the administration.
Waters filed the resolution with the Financial Services Committee, which now has 14 legislative days to address it, either by debating it or voting it down.
If the committee, which is chaired and dominated by Republicans, ignores the resolution, it could head to the floor of the broader House.
Waters and four other colleagues have been especially interested in learning more from Deutsche Bank, which is one of Trump’s biggest lenders, according to government ethics disclosures.
Deutsche Bank’s lawyers have rejected requests for information, citing privacy laws.
Waters asked Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at a hearing on Wednesday whether the US central bank had uncovered anything about Trump in its Deutsche regulatory work. Yellen said they had not looked into it.