Trump Said to Demand Justice Dept. Pay Him $230 Million for Past Cases...a situation with no parallel

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.

The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.

Mr. Trump submitted complaints through an administrative claim process that often is the precursor to lawsuits. The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the claim has not been made public.
The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/trump-justice-department-compensation.html

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. You got to be kidding

trump is insane

Breaking News: President Trump wants 0 million from the Justice Department for investigating him, people familiar with the matter say. Any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. nyti.ms/4hmIi5X

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-10-21T18:34:38.421458Z

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

2. GOP is figuring how to do it

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. Trump does what he wants to

[Blues Heron]

4. When do the trucks load up at Fort Knox? You know he's been planning that caper for a while

[SheltieLover]

5. As soon as tunnel to russia is complete

[Chasstev365]

6. So he will return all the $10 donations given for his legal aid by Seniors on a fixed income?

[J_William_Ryan]

7. Trump

Venal, petty arrogant ass.

[Torchlight]

8. He's gonna get as big a payout as he can before his Jan 2029 flight to Venezuela

He's lining his pockets at the nation's expense, and his toadies will go along with his for-profit presidency because they actually think he cares about them... the poor, dumb bastards.

[Dave Bowman]

9. Hey King Krasnov, want some fries with that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. No Kings.

This is why the USA needs to say "No Kings", repeatedly, until the whole population gets it.

[Qutzupalotl]

11. He thinks the charge for "mishandling" classified docs means

strewing them over the floor. A housekeeping charge. Dude has mommy issues.

No, Donny, it's the fact that you stole them and left them available to spies. They aren't yours to keep.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

12. The King wants reparations. How kingly.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. MaddowBlog-Trump eyes $230 million payout from Justice Dept. as repayment for earlier investigations

“What a travesty,” one ethics lawyer said. “The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.”

Mike Johnson won't swear in Adelita Grijalva. So we're suing. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb... GOOD! Mike Johnson is a weak little man who thinks he works for the Disease in the White House. He is paid by & works for the American People.

— Liberty & Justice (@stand4truth.bsky.social) 2025-10-21T22:11:10.455Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-eyes-230-million-payout-justice-dept-repayment-earlier-investiga-rcna238987

After whining about the FBI’s court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago and peddling a variety of false and familiar claims about his classified documents scandal, the Republican said, “I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said I’m sort of suing myself.”

He quickly added, “I don’t know, how do you settle the lawsuit? I’ll say, ‘Give me X dollars,’ right?”

The comments went largely unremarked, although they’re suddenly relevant anew. The New York Times reported:

President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.

......Will such a gambit succeed? The Times’ report added, “According to the Justice Department manual, settlements of claims against the department for more than $4 million ‘must be approved by the deputy attorney general or associate attorney general,’ meaning the person who oversees the agency’s civil division.”

The deputy attorney general, it just so happens, led Trump’s criminal defense team before he was tapped to lead the DOJ. What’s more, the chief of the department’s civil division, Stanley Woodward Jr., also represented people in Trump’s orbit, including a Trump co-defendant and Patel (before the latter was confirmed to lead the FBI).

Bennett Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University, told the Times, “What a travesty. The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.”

He added, “And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses. It’s bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.”