The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Kentucky's Daniel Cameron Scores Win Against Threat of Banks Cutting Off Conservatives

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican who is also running for governor, secured a pledge from JPMorgan Chase that may help protect conservatives from the threat of "debanking"—when banks cut off services over the religious or political stance of a customer, including nonprofits. Cameron slammed the "hypocrisy that we see from big businesses." Speaking with "The Daily Signal Podcast," Cameron notes that corporations "will promote the ideas and the agenda of the far Left, but they remain quiet or dismissive of protecting the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and—dare I say—the majority of Americans who firmly believe that we should have and welcome all viewpoints into the marketplace of ideas." Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Wednesday, June 21st. I'm Samantha Sherris. On today's episode, Tyler O'Neill sat down with Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is also running for governor. Cameron secured a pledge from J.P. Morgan Chase that may help protect conservatives from the threat of debanking, banks cutting off services due to the religious or political stance of a customer or nonprofit. The Kentucky Republican slammed the hypocrisy that we see from big businesses and noted that they will promote the ideas and the agenda of the far left, but they remain quiet or dismissive

of protecting the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and, dare I say, the majority of Americans who firmly believe that we should have and welcome all viewpoints into the marketplace of ideas. But before we get to Tyler's interview with Daniel Cameron, I want to tell you a little bit about a podcast called Heritage Explains. When we talk about the southern border, it gets overwhelming, quick. Title 42, Godaways, The Wall, Executive Orders, HR2. For most of us, trying to wrap our heads around the issue is just too time-consuming to do. Fortunately, the Heritage Foundation has developed a podcast to help. Through the creative use of stories and our passionate experts, Heritage Explains breaks down the most complex policy issues. This season, we're explaining the

crisis at the southern border. You can hear from Heritage Border expert Laura Reese talk giving the birds' eye view on what's going on at our Southern border right now. Former ICE Director Tom Holman talks about what would happen if we actually enforced border law. Former Customs and Border Protection Chief Mark Morgan explains what it was like to actually be part of the Trump Biden transition. And most importantly, we talk about what we, the American people, can do to restore sanity on our southern border. Check out Heritage explains wherever you get your podcasts. This is Tyler O'Neill, a managing editor at The Daily Signal. I am honored to be joined by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

He just released an important statement following J.P. Morgan Chase's response to Attorney General Cameron's earlier letter in which he led 19 attorneys general in demanding questions from Chase regarding the situation with Sam Brownback's nonprofit that was debanked from Chase under mysterious circumstances and asking if they would engage with the corporate equate. Index with the Human Rights Campaign, which Chase is long engaged with. But now we're asking about the viewpoint diversity score business index. And I think we have some really good news from J.P. Morgan Chase on that front. Is that right, Attorney General? Well, Tyler, thank you again for having me. And you're right. I mean, Chase has confirmed that they're actively considering participating in the

viewpoint diversity survey this year. And so that is good news. And it shows what can happen when conservatives and common sense Americans get behind holding these companies accountable and making sure that they firmly put their money where their mouth is in terms of recognizing openness and inclusivity. And so they have, chase is made. public statements and declarations about openness. But yet, as you noted, they've de-platformed or debanked the Religious Freedom, National Committee for Religious Freedom, and even the Family Council has had some of their accounts cut off from access.

And so this really is a good starting point. And I just want to make sure your listeners know it's not the end of the conversation. It's, again, a starting point in beginning. to make sure that they are aware that there are millions of Americans watching to see how these big corporations respond to the First Amendment religious freedoms of our citizens and organizations all across this country. So I think almost Chase seems like a microcosm of something we're seeing across corporate America, where they almost fall over themselves to achieve high scores on the

corporate equality index from the human rights campaign. You know, we saw Bud Light going and celebrating Dylan Mulvaney who claims, you know, he's a biological male who claims not just to identify as a woman, but to identify as a girl, despite the fact that he's all grown up. But why should the viewpoint diversity score business index be another thing these companies need to take seriously? and how does this chase move, you know, address the sort of absurd bias we've been seeing and that Americans are waking up to and pushing back against, particularly in Bud Light's case.

Well, look, Americans, common sense folks that are working hard every day are tired of the hypocrisy that we see from big business. They will promote the ideas in the agenda of the far left. but they remain quiet or dismissive of protecting the First Amendment rights of religious organizations, and there I say, the majority of Americans who firmly believe that we should have and welcome all viewpoints into the marketplace of ideas. And that is what our effort with Chase is all about. And you mentioned, look at the backlash that you've seen. But most of these corporations, in my judgment, need to remain apolitical.

Or if they are going to share one side, they need to certainly share all sides of the particular issue. You can't pick and choose winners and losers. And that's why I think most Americans see the hypocrisy, don't like it, and want to have their viewpoints freely and openly expressed and not to be disregarded or precluded by big business and big corporations. Again, the backlash that you saw to Bud Light, and if you're looking and paying attention to what's going on with Target, when they step into these conversations,

they need to be ready to understand that there are millions of Americans that don't necessarily agree with those youth ones. And so what we're seeing from Chase, in my hope, is a willingness to be open to, more than just the far left's ideology. And this is a good step. And I hope it means that we are getting back to the right direction. Let's talk a little bit about this specific instance

where, you know, the National Coalition for Religious Freedom found their bank accounts closed. And I believe originally it was without an explanation. Later, Chase demanded, you know, a list of donors, from what I understand. Can you walk us through that and why as the top legal enforcement officer in the state of Kentucky, you felt compelled to get involved? Well, I felt compelled to get involved because as the top legal officer in the Commonwealth, Kentucky, and I know a lot of my colleagues that joined us in this effort believe this as well. We have a responsibility to protect the free speech rights and the exercise.

of freedom of religion in the marketplace of ideas. And Chase is a big player in the marketplace. And to say that they would, without notice, cut off or debank, if you will, the National Committee for Religious Freedom is absurd. And it should never have happened. And I'm delighted that we are. moving in the right direction of correcting, you know, some of these things that should not have occurred. And Chase, and other banks as well, and other corporations need to be on notice that whether it's

attorneys general or governors or people in places or positions in which they serve at the behest of the citizens of their states cannot, can no longer sit. it idly by and not reflect the values of the citizens in their state. And so for me in Kentucky, the religious or freedom of exercise of religion is important to our citizens here. And I know, again, for my colleagues in the other states that join us, it's important to them as well and it's important to their citizens. And we can no longer sit back and allow big corporations and the far left to take control

in the marketplace of ideas. We can no longer seed ground on that front. And that's why we wrote this letter to Chase, and that's why it's important that folks that are paying attention to this know that there is a power and strength in numbers. And we're going to continue to stand up for the common sense values of hardworking Americans across this country. In the letter responding to you, Chase said that they were trying to correct claims of persistent discrimination against certain consequences. customers. And they're claiming that the closure of the NCRF account had nothing to do with its religious stance or with its support for religious freedom. And then they also went down, you know, with the viewpoint diversity survey. They merely said they were actively considering

participating in the survey in 2023. I understand, you know, your statement was encouraging that and you look forward to, you know, hopefully them fulfilling that and deciding that they would. But, you know, this letter does seem a little bit short of acknowledging that they did anything wrong and actually taking a proactive step in the future. Well, Tyler, look, we certainly want to make sure at the end of the day. And that's why I noted that this is a starting point. But my position and my judgment and my view on this, and I think it needs. years, most of your listeners, is that if Chase is going to make public facing statements

about their willingness to promote an inclusive society, then they need to make sure that whether it's NCRF or other religiously affiliated organizations, that they have access to accounts and to Chase as a bank. And then on top of that, I want Chase to make sure that they utilize this viewpoint diversity score business index. Again, this is a starting point. But the goal here, the mission here, is to make sure that they use this index much in the same way that they use, you know, this corporate equality index. I want to make sure, again, that religiously affiliated organizations do,

like they have full access to the marketplace and to the banking sector within this country. And what tools does an attorney general like yourself have if, you know, if we could prove that a bank like J.P. Morgan Chase did actually debank an organization for ideological or religious reasons, what, you know, what would you do to bring, you know, to bring justice in that sort of situation? Well, you know, this is a situation where we certainly would look closely and, again, what, if anything they have done that is irregular from other customers that they have, and then we could obviously make decisions going forward based on that information that we received.

But again, as I noted earlier, this is a starting place for us. In the day, I want to make sure that NCRF or other organizations are going to be the Family Council or whomever, if you're a religiously affiliated organization, you need to know that some of the largest banks in the country aren't going to debank you simply because of your beliefs or your value. And we've seen, you know, on this, general trend.

We've seen the Southern Poverty Law Center brand, mainstream conservative and Christian organizations, hate groups, placing them on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, and then going to banks, financial institutions, charitable trusts, and saying, look, you shouldn't give to any of these organizations, you should cut them off. And by the way, the SPLC just expanded that map

to also include parental rights, organizations like moms for liberty and parents defending education. How, you know, I think this issue of debanking is huge because the SPLC and organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations use that SPLC list and go to these financial institutions and say, look, these are hate groups. You should, you should not do any banking with them. You should prevent people from giving to them. and in some cases that has been successful.

Well, Tyler, you bring up a great point. And your listeners understand this, is that the far left will try to use institutions to quash and silence the voices of common sense Americans who have values that don't align with the far left. That is the playbook of the far left. They try to do that in Kentucky. They try to do that across the country.

And it's really incumbent upon an imperative that leaders that represent their states and their communities reflect their values and speak out for their citizens. And whether you're the Attorney General or if you're the governor or if you're elected senator or a representative, you've got to make sure that you're standing up for those people in your state.

and speaking up and against those institutions that are trying to, whether they're trying to debank individuals or trying to blacklist organizations, this again is all an effort by the far left to silence hardworking common sense Americans that have common sense values. And it's my responsibility as the Attorney General of Kentucky to make sure that I stand up for the values of our Commonwealth And again, I know my colleagues that joined in this coalition with me, agree with that wholeheartedly. And we're going to keep speaking up and speaking out and bringing the attention to the hypocrisy

and the unequal treatment that sometimes exists if you're a religious organization or if you are a common sense American who values don't align with the far left. We're going to keep speaking out for those common sense Americans, those hard work. Americans because that will that's what we were elected to do and that's the responsibility of leadership. Yeah, well you pledge that the Kentucky law enforcement will not rely on groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center under your watch. Well, Tyler, as you know, I'm running for governor and if I get the opportunity to serve as governor, I can assure you that our Kentucky State Police will not be relying on SPLC or any

other organization that is trying to quash be in silence religious organizations here in Kentucky. I'd just like to ask if there's anything else you're planning on doing with Chase on this story or in a similar vein in the near future if there's something we should look out for. Well, the ball is in Chase's court, so to speak. And so, again, my ultimate goal here is to make sure that they use the viewpoint diversity and versus score business index that they commit to doing that, and that they make sure that NCRF or, again, any other religious liberty organizations are debanked going forward. Well, thank you so much for the work you've been doing, holding J.P. Morgan Chase accountable.

Thanks, Tyler. I appreciate you. And that's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signals interview edition. Make sure you subscribe to the Daily Signal and Heritage Explains wherever you get your podcast and help us reach even more listeners by leaving a five-star rating and review. We read and appreciate all of your feedback. Thanks again for listening. Have a wonderful Wednesday.

And we'll be back with you all this afternoon for top news. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Lewy and Kate Shrinco. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.