Waters demands Sessions recuse himself from Deutsche Bank probe

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is demanding that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation of Deutsche Bank.

In a letter Tuesday to Sessions, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee accused him of being “unwilling to stand up to the president on matters in which he has a vested interest,” the Washington Examiner reported.

The Justice Department is investigating the German bank for involvement in a possible Russian money-laundering scheme for which U.S. regulators fined the bank $629 million in January. 

The scheme led to more than $10 billion secretly being transported out of the country.

{mosads}But Democrats also want answers about any loans between the bank and businesses owned by President Trump and his family.

According to The Washington Post, a real estate company owned by Trump’s son in law and senior adviser Jared Kushner received a $285 million loan a month before Election Day.

The German bank has also reportedly loaned Trump millions in the past.

Trump’s financial disclosure form revealed that he owed $130 million to the bank.

In May, Waters and House Democrats wrote to the bank, demanding to know whether loans made through the bank were guaranteed by the Russian government.

“Congress remains in the dark on whether loans Deutsche Bank made to President Trump were guaranteed by the Russian government, or were in any way connected to Russia,” the Democrats wrote.

“It is critical that you provide this committee with the information necessary to assess the scope, findings and conclusions of your internal reviews.”

Deutsche Bank never responded to that letter.

The Federal Reserve fined Deutsche Bank $156.6 million in April for “unsafe” foreign exchange trading practices, as well as lacking other necessary safeguards.

Deutsche Bank paid a record $2.5 billion in fines to settle American and British government charges in 2015 that it conspired to manipulate market rates for their benefit.