Tucker Carlson claimed on his show that the second-largest bank in the United States, Bank of America, was spying on their customers and sending their information to the FBI for suspected involvement in the Capitol Building Riot.
According to Bank of America, their reasoning is to try and weed out the “extremists” in their customer base. Carlson noted that their guidelines were unclear as to what would classify a person as an extremist.
On the Thursday night show, he asked, “What exactly are they doing? How are they hunting these extremists they keep telling us about, but will not describe?”
“Bank of America is, without the knowledge or the consent of its customers, sharing private information with federal law enforcement agencies. Bank of American effectively is acting as an intelligence agency, but they’re not telling you about it. In the days after the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Bank of America went through its own customers’ financial and transaction records … these were the private records of Americans who had committed no crime, people, who as far as we know, had absolutely nothing to do with what happened at the Capitol on January 6,” continued Carlson.
He proceeded, “But at the request of federal investigators, Bank of America searched its databases looking for people who fit a specific profile Here’s what that profile was, and we are quoting, ‘customers confirmed as transacting either through bank account, debit card, or credit card purchases in Washington, D.C., between January 5 and January 6. Number two, purchases made for hotels, Airbnb, RSVPs, in Washington, Virginia, or Maryland after January 6. Number three, any purchase of weapons or at a weapons-related merchant between January 7 and their upcoming suspected stay in the D.C. area around Inauguration Day. And four, airline-related purchases since January 6.”
Apparently, 211 people fit the description of Bank of America and met their “threshold of interest.” Fox News reported only one person out of the 211 was questioned by the law enforcement, but no one was arrested.
Bank of America’s response to the outrage, “We don’t comment on our communications with law enforcement. All banks have responsibilities under federal law to cooperate with law enforcement inquiries in full compliance with the law.”
Carlson said towards the end of the segment, “Now the last part, from the lawyers perspective, is the essence — in full compliance with the law. It’s the law; we had no choice. But that’s not true. Bank of America did have a choice. The bank could have resisted turning over information on its innocent customers to federal investigators. But Bank of America did not do that. Nor is it clear, if we’re going to be precise about it, that what Bank of America did is even legal. It turns out it’s not simple. It’s a gray area. We spoke to a number of lawyers about this today, some of them told us that what Bank of America did might in fact not be legal, and could in fact be challenged in court.”
