There’s a new conspiracy theory out there about Trump and Justice Kennedy, spawned in part by this in a NY Times article:
But they had a connection, one Mr. Trump was quick to note in the moments after his first address to Congress in February 2017. As he made his way out of the chamber, Mr. Trump paused to chat with the justice.
“Say hello to your boy,” Mr. Trump said. “Special guy.”
Mr. Trump was apparently referring to Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin. The younger Mr. Kennedy spent more than a decade at Deutsche Bank, eventually rising to become the bank’s global head of real estate capital markets, and he worked closely with Mr. Trump when he was a real estate developer, according to two people with knowledge of his role.
During Mr. Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history.
Her’s a few of the conspiracy theory tweets we’re now seeing on Twitter from the left, suggesting that Trump and Kennedy had a corrupt relationship or something:
Retired Supreme Court Justice Kennedy's son Justin was Trump's primary lender at Deutsche Bank, when no other banks would touch him (Trump, that is). I am a bit slack jawed after reading about the corruption exposed in this NYT piece. https://t.co/lHIcIVJ5d9
— Lisa Goldman (@lisang) June 29, 2018
It is fitting that Kennedy himself — who repeatedly ruled for and handed his seat to Trump after he did business with a bank employing his son — would be guilty of the very appearance of corruption he said wasn't an issue in Citizens United. https://t.co/RPRPR68Mqc
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) June 29, 2018
There's a big (and so far unreported) story about the financial relationship the president and #JusticeKennedy's son. Questions that need to be answered:
1. Why did #DeutscheBank provide massive loans to DJT when no other bank would?
2. How did Kennedy's son personally profit? https://t.co/U4gmRv5MuD— Jonah Blank (@JonahBlank) June 29, 2018
Just to state this: Justice Kennedy's son gave a billion dollar loan to Trump when no one would give him a dime, and Justice Kennedy has been ruling in favor of the Trump Administration position for 2 years as the Court decides 5-4 case after 5-4 case.
— Neera Tanden 🌊 (@neeratanden) June 29, 2018
I guess they are saying there must’ve been some hidden quid pro quo here between Trump and Justice Kennedy?
But there’s a problem with all of this. Stephanie Ruhle, who anchors at MSNBC, has gone on record refuting this, pointing out that she used to work at Deutsche Bank and essentially said that some of the NY reporting is misleading:
I worked at deutsche bank for 8yrs
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) June 29, 2018
I worked with Justin Kennedy
I read the stories - reached out to some former colleagues for their reaction
Here’s some broader context/perspective- Neither of which fit in 240 characters
(Part 1/2) pic.twitter.com/Ug8UQxhVlW
I worked at deutsche bank for 8yrs
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) June 29, 2018
I worked with Justin Kennedy
I read the stories - reached out to some former colleagues for their reaction
Here’s some broader context/perspective- Neither of which fit in 240 characters
(Part 2/2) pic.twitter.com/ba8f3059YX
She’s basically saying the Kennedy was not the point man for all of these big loans to Trump, that Trump was a client of the private bank side and that’s where the major loans came from. Also, Justin had left the bank by that point anyway.
She tweeted this earlier:
I worked w/Justin at DB
While he did run a portion of the real estate biz
He was on the institutional side of the bank -NOT private bank
Trump was a private bank client & I believe the lending happened after justin left DB
Trump wanted to borrow from the instit side/they said NO
But thanks in part to NY Times, liberals now appear to be accusing Kennedy of leaving his SCOTUS seat as some kind of favor to Trump.