Manhattan DA interviews Deutsche Bank employees in Trump investigation: NYT

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has interviewed several employees of President Trump’s bank and insurance brokerage in recent weeks as part of its investigation of the president and his business, The New York Times reported Friday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

State prosecutors have interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank and insurance brokerage Aon. The Times reported that there’s no indication prosecutors suspect either company of wrongdoing.

Two Deutsche Bank employees were asked by prosecutors about how the bank makes lending decisions. The employees were experts in the bank’s underwriting process rather than people who worked with the Trump Organization. Bank officials expect prosecutors to ask them more specific questions in the near future, the Times reported, citing a person familiar with the interviews.

The interviews mark an escalation of prosecutors’ investigation of Trump and his business, dating back to 2018. Prosecutors have recently issued subpoenas and questioned witnesses, including some who have been questioned before a grand jury, the Times reported.

The newspaper reported earlier this month that Trump has discussed with advisers whether to issue preemptive pardons to his children. The president has also claimed he can pardon himself, though it’s unclear whether that would stand up to legal scrutiny in the courts.

Trump’s pardon power, however, only applies to federal crimes, not state crimes.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Cyrus Vance Jr. (D), and Trump’s lawyers have been fighting in court over prosecutors’ subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, for the president’s personal and business tax returns. A federal appeals court ruled in October that Trump cannot block enforcement of the subpoena. Trump’s lawyers then filed a motion to stay with the Supreme Court that has yet to be decided.

The district attorney’s office has indicated in court filings that it is investigating potentially extensive criminal conduct at the Trump Organization. Prosecutors have suggested that Trump and his businesses could be investigated for tax and insurance fraud.

Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt.”

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request from The Hill for comment about the Times’s report.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on or confirm the Times’s report.