Wall Street distances itself from Trump, GOP after riots

NORTH CAROLINA, United States (AP) — A growing number of Wall Street banks and businesses have cut ties with President Donald Trump’s campaign and financial arms, as well as the broader Republican Party, following last week’s riots and insurrection at the US Capitol.

The financial technology company Stripe has stopped processing payments for the Trump campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because the decision hasn’t been made public.

The move will cut off Trump’s fund-raising arm from what has been a steady stream of small-dollar donations that are often solicited through e-mails and text messages. Stripe’s decision was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. In the days after the election Trump’s campaign raised tens of millions of dollars, promising to use the money toward fighting the results of the election. That money largely appears to have gone into Trump’s broader political action committee.

American Express and JPMorgan Chase have said they would no longer donate to candidates who supported last week’s insurrection or did not vote to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral college. Goldman Sachs is also holding back on political donations, a source at the firm familiar with the matter said who is not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
“Last week’s attempts by some Congressional members to subvert the presidential election results and disrupt the peaceful transition of power do not align with our [values],” said American Express CEO Steve Squeri, in an e-mail to employees.

Citigroup confirmed Sunday that it is pausing all federal political donations for the first three months of the year.
In a memo to employees Friday, Citi’s head of global government affairs Candi Wolff said “we want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law”.

Several technology companies have clamped down on President Trump, the GOP and other forums that were considered avenues for violent extremism and insurrection. Twitter suspended Trump from its platform, as did Facebook, last week. The social media company Parler was banned from Apple’s App Store as well as the Google Play store, and Amazon cut off Parler from its Amazon Web Services platform.

Shopify, an e-commerce platform for merchants to sell goods, also shut down the Trump campaign’s merchandise website as well.