title:  Donald Trump Just Got A BIG ‘F*** You’ From Goldman Sachs (TWEETS)
text: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has just sent the Trump campaign a message that is going to make them furious, especially coming from one of the largest investment banks in the country.Recently, the bank banned all of its top officials from donating to Trump s campaign   which is kind of hilarious considering how much Trump s campaign is struggling. In a memo right now, the bank instructed its highest ranking employees: Effective Thursday, September 1, all partners across the firm are considered  restricted persons  as defined by the firm s Policy on Personal Political Activities in the US. As outlined below, restricted persons are prohibited from engaging in political activities and/or making campaign contributions to candidates running for state and local offices, as well as sitting state and local officials running for federal office.The policy change is meant to prevent inadvertently violating pay-to-play rules, particularly the look-back provision, when partners transition into roles covered by these rules. The penalties for failing to comply with these rules can be severe and include fines and a ban on the firm from doing business with government clients in a particular jurisdiction for a period of at least two years.The policy change is also meant to minimize potential reputational damage caused by any false perception that the firm is attempting to circumvent pay-to-play rules, particularly given partners  seniority and visibility. All failures to pre-clear political activities as outlined below are taken seriously and violations may result in disciplinary action. Damn! And to make this even more brilliant, Goldman Sachs SPECIFICALLY called out the Trump campaign when they described the types of donations that are banned: any federal candidate who is a sitting state or local official (e.g., governor running for president or vice president, such as the Trump/Pence ticket, or mayor running for Congress), including their Political Action Committees (PACs). TwitterTwitterThe interesting thing here is that both Trump and Clinton s running mates hold a position in a political office   yet only Trump s VP pick, Indiana governor Mike Pence, is mentioned. To make matters even worse, these rules don t restrict donations to Clinton s campaign because Kaine is a U.S. Senator for Virginia and not considered a local official according to Goldman Sachs  rules (although the memo does say employees cannot donate to the Virginia Democratic party).Although Goldman Sachs  CEO hasn t officially said who he is voting for, it s public knowledge that he s a long-time Clinton fan, and had donated to her campaign when she ran against Obama in 2008.You can read the full memo here, as obtained by Fortune.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images