Thread by @davidenrich

This is the inside story of how Deutsche Bank officials – including 2 CEOs – were so eager to do business with @realDonaldTrump that they ignored years of internal warnings about the risks.

Based on interviews with 20+ bank execs w/ direct knowledge. nytimes.com/2019/03/18/bus…

Trump wooed one @DeutscheBank exec after another. He wrote a thank-you note to a banker's father. He dangled a Mar-a-Lago trip as a reward for a successful bond sale. He flew bankers on his helicopter and plane. He promised to put tens of millions in a DB brokerage account.

Units of Deutsche *twice* stopped doing business with Trump after he defaulted. Both times, a different part of the bank quickly restarted the relationship – including after an internal fight about whether Trump was too toxic to work with.

Deutsche Bank has been arguing that the Trump relationship was not a big deal for the bank or its executives. But two CEOs, Joe Ackermann and Anshu Jain, supported it. Jain had lunch with Trump (and his private banker) in Feb 2013 and discussed his finances.

Since 2011, Rosemary Vrablic managed the Trump relationship at DB. Her superiors encouraged her to make large, complex loans. She made $300M+ to Trump.

That’s how she ended up in the VIP area at @realDonaldTrump’s inauguration. (Photos: cnn.com/interactive/20…)

A lot of this reporting - dozens and dozens of interviews - is for my forthcoming book on how @DeutscheBank became one of the world's most troubled, dangerous banks. Book info/pre-order here: harpercollins.com/9780062878816/…