‘Corrupt and deranged’: Trump slams NYT after report claiming ‘suspicious activity’ in bank accounts

US President Donald Trump lashed out at the “failing New York Times” in a Monday morning tweet storm after the newspaper reported that Deutsche Bank employees had noticed “suspicious activity” on his accounts.

Trump accused the paper and other “Fake News Media” of “writing phony stories” claiming banks did not want to do business with him. “WRONG! It is because I didn’t need money,” Trump tweeted. He also made reference to media theories that he had made financial deals with Russia in the past.

“Now the new big story is that Trump made a lot of money and buys everything for cash, he doesn’t need banks. But where did he get all of that cash? Could it be Russia? No, I built a great business and don’t need banks,” he wrote.

Trump said the mainstream media has never been “as corrupt and deranged” as it is today and dismissed the idea that he was unhappy with the service provided by Deutsche Bank, which he said was “very good and highly professional” to deal with.

The Times report claimed that the German bank’s anti-money laundering employees noticed multiple suspicious transactions involving legal entities controlled by Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner — and recommended that they be reported to a federal financial crimes watchdog.

The reports were never filed with the US Treasury Department, however. The Times explained that certain transactions, particularly involving real-estate, can sometimes automatically trigger review procedures without any wrongdoing.

The red flags raised by employees “do not necessarily mean the transactions were improper,” the report said, adding that banks sometimes opt not to filed suspicious activity reports “if they conclude their employees’ concerns are unwarranted.”

Kerrie McHugh, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman, told the paper that investigators were never prevented from looking further into suspicious activity and said suggestions that employees were fired “in an effort to quash concerns” relating to any client are “categorically false.”

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