[WASHINGTON] For years, Republican lawmakers and regulators have groused about big corporate fines, arguing that they mostly punish blameless shareholders, not the executives who are responsible for misconduct. Then President Donald Trump tweeted his ire about Wells Fargo & Co and - at least in the case of the embattled bank - the GOP is singing a different tune. Watchdogs appointed by Mr Trump - including a conservative former congressman - announced Friday that Wells Fargo would pay US$1 billion to settle allegations that its auto-lending and mortgage businesses abused consumers. The enforcement actions add to pain borne by the bank's investors, who've endured the worst stock performance among the 20 biggest US lenders since it first ran afoul of regulators over its 2016 phony accounts scandal. Frustration with Wells Fargo is bipartisan, as demonstrated by Mr Trump's December tweet. The president foreshadowed that fines and penalties against the bank could be "substantially increased."