Sam Brownback, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, welcomed President Donald Trump publicly rebuking the CEOs of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase for allegedly "debanking" conservatives.
"I'm delighted," Brownback, who also served as a U.S. senator and governor of Kansas before assuming the ambassador position in Trump's first administration, told The Christian Post Thursday. "This thing has been swept under the carpet for way too long, and to get it finally out in the open is an important step to getting it solved."
After Trump called out their CEOs in front of a global audience this week, both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have drawn renewed scrutiny for their alleged discriminatory practices against conservatives and Christians.
'What you're doing is wrong'
Trump first rebuked Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to his face Thursday after addressing the elite international World Economic Forum's 2025 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, remotely from Washington, D.C.
"I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, they don't take conservative business," Trump told Moynihan, who has served as CEO of Bank of America since 2010 and was speaking to Trump as part of a panel with other major CEOs.
'It's secret'
The bank account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF), a nonpartisan, multi-faith nonprofit Brownback launched in 2022, was shuttered by JPMorgan Chase without explanation less than three weeks after it was opened that year.
Brownback alleged at the time that JPMorgan Chase stonewalled their executive director when he asked the bank why the account had been closed.
"The people said the decision was made at the corporate level, it's secret, we're not going to tell you why, and it's irrevocable," Brownback toldFOX Business. "We were just stunned."
He said Chase offered to reconsider doing business with them if they disclosed their donors and provided a list of the political candidates they intended to support.
Trump also mentioned JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who has been in his position since 2006 but was not present on the panel.
"And I don't know if the regulators mandated that [debanking] because of Biden or what," Trump added. "But you and Jamie [Dimon] and everybody, I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong."
Trump's statement elicited awkward chuckles from the group at WEF, and Moynihan dodged his comments by pivoting to talking about the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Bank of America later released a statement on its X account pushing back against Trump while disabling the ability of anyone to comment, which requires an intentional extra step.
"Bank of America serves more than 70 million clients and we welcome conservatives," the statement said. "We would never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political litmus test."
By late Thursday night, the uproar on X ultimately led to an explanatory "community note" under Bank of America's post that cited 15 state attorneys general who sent a letter to Moynihan last year expressing concern over multiple conservative organizations the company is accused of debanking.
The letter alleged the company "is responsible for some of the worst-known instances of debanking" while at the same time cooperating with the federal government to provide "innocuous" private information to paint some conservative customers as "potential domestic terrorists."
'Typical response'
JPMorgan Chase also issued a statement, telling Fortune they "never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop."
Brownback told CP that JPMorgan Chase faced a similar blowback after what happened to his religious freedom nonprofit years ago.
In May 2023, 19 Republican state attorneys general wrote a letter to Dimon calling on his company to "stop its religious and politically biased discrimination and start living up to its commitment to an inclusive society where everyone feels welcomed, equal, and included."
Brownback noted that an abortive shareholder resolution was introduced that month with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, which urged the finance behemoth to evaluate how it oversees risk related to discrimination based on religious and political views.
The board of directors at JPMorgan Chase urged shareholders to vote against the resolution, and Brownback said Dimon "just kind of sloughed it off."
"I think that's kind of a typical response," Brownback added. "I think that's the typical response that has happened to date. Hopefully, that will start to change now."
'A strong cup of coffee'
Religious and political discrimination is not limited to two big banks, Brownback believes, saying persecution is becoming endemic in corporate America. He hopes to discuss these issues further at the National Council for Religious Freedom's annual gathering in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6.
He said the event will include people such as Christian real estate agents or social workers with deeply held convictions who were sidelined for attempting to carry those convictions into the public square.
"It should not happen in a free, open democracy," he said.
Brownback thinks Trump is perhaps uniquely equipped to fight back against such assaults both in government and business.
"He's just a strong cup of coffee," he said of the president. "And that's what these big business guys and these big institutions need. That's what big government needs, is somebody stout coming in and saying, 'I'm got going to take it anymore.'"
Originally published by The Christian Post
