Trump Administration Investigates Wells Fargo for Race-Based Lending

The new investigation adds to the Trump administration’s efforts to punish corporate America for expanding programs aimed at Black Americans after the nationwide protests set off by George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The Trump administration has repeatedly raised instances of what it considers reverse discrimination, most recently accusing the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, of penalizing white and Asian applicants.

Under President Trump, federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice, have criticized diversity, equity and inclusion programs for favoring minority employees over white ones.

Mr. Trump said in an interview this year that he believed laws and policies dating to the 1960s, such as affirmative action, had resulted in white people being “very badly treated.”

Financial institutions, however, have until now mostly escaped the White House’s criticism of race-based programs. Mr. Trump in his second term has been more focused on whether banks have discriminated against conservatives — including him personally — by closing certain customers’ accounts, a process known as “debanking.”

Wells Fargo was among the large banks cited last year by the administration’s regulators for engaging in the practice. Industry representatives have said bank accounts are not closed for political reasons.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/business/trump-hud-wells-fargo.html