From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

Today, at a time when most Wall Street firms had stopped doing business with Donald Trump,

a single bank lent him more than $2 billion. Natalie Kittreff talks to our colleague, David

Enrich, about a two-decade long relationship that could unlock the president's financial secrets.

It's Thursday, May 23rd.

So, what's the story of Deutsche Bank? Oh man. I can go back 150 years. That we want to do.

Yes. Okay. So, founded in 1870, it was a bank that was supposed to help German companies

expand all over the world. And it banked exclusively for German companies. There's primarily a

finance or infrastructure project, so it did a lot of real-world work, things like that. And this

is all going well and according to plan, until the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s.

And at this point, Deutsche Bank's role goes from being a force for industrialization and good

stuff to being a force for evil. The bank's logo disappears and it's replaced by a swatzika.

Yikes. It very quickly becomes an important part of the Nazi military machine. Deutsche Bank

financed the construction of Auschwitz. It financed the company that was making chemicals and gas

for Auschwitz' gas chambers. And as Germany laid waste to Europe and conquered all these countries,

Deutsche Bank would come in and take over those countries' banks and conduct what's called

Aryanization. Basically, removing Jews in other non-areans from these companies and replacing them.

So, it's part and parcel of the Nazi military machine. And after the war ends, the bank's CEO

is tried and convicted of being a war criminal. The bank is regarded by the Western powers as having

been a participant in war crimes and being a criminal entity. So what happens to Deutsche Bank

after the war? After the war, it becomes a leading force for the reconstruction, redevelopment,

and reunification of Europe. And the bank and its leaders, they essentially become a force for

...