Trump wants DOJ to pay him $230 million for previous investigations: Sources
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Source: ABC/Yahoo
President Donald Trump is pressing for his Justice Department to pay roughly $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and his first term in office, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Tuesday.
The extraordinary arrangement, as first reported by The New York Times, would likely first need sign-off from top officials in the department who previously served as Trump's defense attorneys or otherwise represented his allies.
The settlement negotiations stem from two separate administrative claims that were submitted by attorneys for Trump while he was out of office in 2023 and 2024. One sought damages over the investigation he and those in his orbit faced surrounding ties his 2016 campaign had to the Russian government.
The second claim, which was previously reported publicly last year, related to accusations that he was prosecuted maliciously by then-special counsel Jack Smith and that his privacy rights were violated when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents in August of 2022.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-wants-doj-pay-him-215655987.html
LetMyPeopleVote
(171,853 posts)What a travesty, one ethics lawyer said. The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you dont 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
He quickly added, I dont know, how do you settle the lawsuit? Ill say, Give me X dollars, right?
The comments went largely unremarked, although theyre 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 agencys civil division.
The deputy attorney general, it just so happens, led Trumps criminal defense team before he was tapped to lead the DOJ. Whats more, the chief of the departments civil division, Stanley Woodward Jr., also represented people in Trumps 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 dont 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. Its bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.
Irish_Dem
(76,650 posts)unblock
(55,726 posts)Make one Republican who would be fine with Biden, Obama, bill Clinton, or a president Hillary Clinton doing this.
Staggeringly massive conflict of interest at best, and it's a matter of a quarter of a billion dollars.
Never mind that the investigations were totally justified and the doj doesn't normally compensate those it investigates.
Beyond absurd.
Autumn
(48,498 posts)What the fuck her Gnome name is will be happy to sign off on it. Toss in a few trillion for her nasty ass too.
God damn I loathe those fuckers
Beartracks
(14,168 posts)=========
Omaha Steve
(107,465 posts)DUPE of https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143551185
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