Congressman Cleaver Calls on Payment Processors to Freeze Services For Capitol Insurrectionists

(Washington, D.C.) – This week, United States Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, called on all members of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), including Visa, Square, Stripe, Mastercard, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and other powerful payment processors, to cease all financial services for individuals and organizations engaged in the violent domestic terror attack against the United States Capitol last week.

In a letter to the ETA, Congressman Cleaver wrote:

"There is a range of actors involved in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, or who supported its seditious aims, that continue to leverage financial networks to facilitate their actions. As some mainstream financial services providers have refused to provide products and services to domestic terrorists, these extremist groups have sought out relationships with intermediary organizations with questionable terms of service….As Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, I call on your institutions to permanently disrupt financial services for these dangerous actors and all persons connected to them. It is equally imperative that all those who sought to raise funds on this seditious terrorist plot be barred from financial platforms."

Cleaver has called for an immediate response from the ETA in hopes of preventing these individuals and groups from continuing to fundraise for future potential terror plots.

You can find the official letter from Cleaver here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, North Kansas City, Gladstone, Claycomo, and all of Ray, Lafayette, and Saline Counties. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee; Chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy; member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress; member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. For more information, please contact Matt Helfant at 202-590-0175 or Matthew.Helfant@mail.house.gov A high-resolution photo of Congressman Cleaver is available here.