Frenzied presidential actions can make US Justice Department controversial

 
Though many of the details remain unclear, Donald Trump acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the situation in which he would be potentially “paying himself” damages to resolve claims that the Justice Department under his predecessor had wronged him. Donald Trump says he could seek $230 million from his own Justice Department.  

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he could seek $230 million from his own Justice Department as compensation for past investigations into him, though he professed to have little knowledge of the specifics and said he would give the money to charity. “It could be,” Trump responded when asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about a New York Times report that he was seeking the money in connection with complaints he had filed about past DOJ investigations.

“I don’t know about the numbers. I don’t even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money. But I’m not looking for money. I’d give it to charity or something,” Trump said in the Oval Office. Though many of the details remain unclear, Trump acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the situation in which he would be potentially “paying himself” damages to resolve claims that the Justice Department under his predecessor had wronged him.

“With the country, it’s interesting, because I’m the one that makes the decision,” Trump said Tuesday. “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself. In other words, have you ever had one of those cases where you have to decide how much you’re paying yourself in damages?” he said.

A settlement to Trump would come from taxpayer funds. Trump has long claimed the Justice Department was weaponized against him, focusing his ire on the two federal indictments brought against him after his first term. Both cases were dropped after he won reelection last year.

Trump argued Tuesday that he was damaged by the investigations into him and suggested he deserved to be paid for that, but added that he’d give away the money or use it to renovate the White House. One of Trump's former lawyers, Todd Blanche, is now the deputy US attorney general at the Department of Justice. It declined to comment on the status of the claims but rejected suggestions that top officials would be conflicted. 

"In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials," department spokesman Chad Gilmartin told reporters. Trump faced a series of federal investigations after his first presidency into the alleged mishandling of classified material and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Biden won.