PNC Bank apologized for “mistakenly” shutting down an account belonging to a business venture started by Donald Trump Jr. and his associate, and former President Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich. The duo launched MxM News last year as a news aggregate app that could compete against the likes of Apple News and Google News.
“BREAKING: Woke @PNCBank just shut down the bank account for my app @mxmnews without any explanation,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted after learning about the account’s initial closure.
“The Left doesn’t think you should be able to exist, much less thrive, in society. It should be illegal to discriminate based on political affiliation!!!” he added.
BREAKING: Woke @PNCBank just shut down the bank account for my app @mxmnews without any explanation.
The Left doesn't think you should be able to exist, much less thrive, in society. It should be illegal to discriminate based on political affiliation!!!https://t.co/JMTuVnK68g
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 2, 2023
Budowich shared with Fox News Digital that he first learned of the closure after he visited a branch office to pay vendor invoices.
“The teller said he was unable to complete the transfers as the account had been closed and balance had been zeroed out,” Budowich said of the incident.
“After being told to call a generic help line, I was informed by the PNC representative that per the terms and conditions, PNC reserves the right to re-evaluate their business relationships at any time and terminate accounts without cause,” he then related to Fox, noting that the call seemed to indicate a decision had been made to close the account.
He then pointed out the obvious: “Woke corporations are using their terms and conditions like a guillotine over the head of every conservative entrepreneur.”
Trump Jr. described MxM News as an alternative news source where stories could reach audiences without being filtered by Big Tech, saying the app was created to “provide curated stories that are being silenced and or suppressed by big tech and the mainstream media.”
“However, as this shows, it’s not just the media that’s become plagued by the woke agenda,” he said. “It’s banks, it’s the entire corporate America,” he said. “We need a patriot economy. We need a parallel economy to fight back.”
Fortunately, the closure was short-lived. No doubt, this was in part to his tweet being seen millions of times and the various stories – and bad press – that circulated as a result. Still, Trump Jr. has the advantage of name recognition and a huge following. Not everyone can say that.
“But what about every other start up, or small business who wants to pursue a values-based company?” Trump Jr. asked. “This should be investigated, and it should be illegal to discriminate based on political affiliation.”
PNC walked back its “good-faith error” by responding to both Trump Jr.’s original tweet and also sharing a statement with Fox News.
“Account closures can occur for a variety of reasons but are never influenced by political views or affiliations of customers. We’ve looked closely into the circumstances surrounding the closure of ROCDIGITAL, LLC account and determined it was mistakenly closed due to a good-faith error. We have reopened the account and we apologize for any inconvenience,” the tweet said.
— PNC Bank (@PNCBank) March 3, 2023
Funny how these mistakes always seem to happen to conservatives. Whether it’s PNC Bank shutting down a company run by the son of Donald Trump or AirBnB removing access from the parents of an outspoken conservative, mistakes always tilt in one direction.
Fox was also able to obtain a statement from PNC regarding the initial closure.
“Here’s what happened: Your PNC account has been closed. Enclosed you’ll find a cashier’s check representing the balance of your remaining funds. Here’s what you’ll need to do: Please destroy all unused checks, withdrawal/deposit tickets and any debit card accessing the account.”
“It is important for you to know that, going forward, any transactions presented to your account will be returned,” the document reads.
“While PNC does not comment on the closure of specific accounts, which may occur for a variety of reasons, our account closure decisions are never driven by politics,” PNC said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “As a national bank, we recognize and respect that our customers and our employees hold a wide range of political beliefs.”
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