The New York Times reports that Trump has asked the Department of Justice to pay him $230 million for investigating him in the past.
The decision about paying him will be made by people in the Justice Department who were Trump’s defense attorneys during these investigations.
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.
How many ways can he dream up to extort money out of taxpayers and his base?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Settlement to be approved by officials who have pledged their undying loyalty to him above everything else.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If Todd Blanche, his former defense attorney, now deputy Attorney General, agrees to pay the $230 million that Trump wants, Trump could use the money to pay off his defense attorneys. Todd Blanche would be paying Trump to pay Blanche and his firm. Nice circle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trump manages to raise the bar every day. Who will stop him? What goes too far?
LikeLiked by 3 people
For the next year, no one can stop him. If Dems don’t win at least one House in 2026, our government will be in tatters. Also the global economy.
LikeLiked by 3 people
This man has always used the justice system to help him avoid accountability and play the victim. His defense is to always go on the offense. He never apologizes or admits mistakes as it would shine a light on his fragile ego. His ‘get out of jail free card’ handed to him by The Supreme Court continues to allow him to lie, blame, extort and bully without consequence.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I thought I was reading Borowitz….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought I was reading Borowitz….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Consistent with his lifelong pattern of behavior of wreaking havoc, blaming others for attempting to make him accountable for doing it, playing the “poor me” card and trying to cash in on it by suing them. After all, he’s gotta come up with over $200M to pay for the new ballroom he’s adding to the people’s WH in DC, which he turned into the tacky and gaudy White Palace to honor his kingship. But rather than dip into his own billions, he does this, so once again, we have to pray that justice will prevail. (Dear G_d, and US courts, PLEASE hear our prayers!!!)
LikeLike
AND we need Democrats to intervene, since apparently it’s just a demand he made to his sycophants so it’s not even going though the courts yet!
LikeLike
So of course he does it during the Government Shut Down, too… ARG!
LikeLike
I am reminded of a hand written sign that I saw at a NoKings march which said, “We Got Rid Of King George for THIS???”
LikeLike
This: Bring Back King George!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Or give us his heir, King Charles. He, the British people and their Parliament have consistently demonstrated that they are much more humane than we are, with their free National Health Care for all citizens etc.–and they have been for quite awhile. The British outlawed slavery long before we did (see link below), so I’ve often wondered what would have happened if our founding fathers had just waited a bit longer… See their “Slavery Abolition Act of 1833”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833 And I have to wonder if there’s some way for us to give ourselves back to the Brits –if they’d even take us now…
LikeLike
ECE: Although I generally eschew “if history,” it is tantalizing to wonder what a path more like Canada’s would have looked like. My guess is that the slavery issue in England would have separated it from its cotton colonies around the same time it almost separated the United States.
LikeLike
IDK, Roy, but the Brits provided financial compensation to slave owners for the loss of their slaves, as noted in the Wikipedia article I provided above. AND the Brits didn’t have those God-awful Jim Crow segregation laws that we had for nearly 100 years after our Civil War!!!
LikeLike
Apparently Russia won the Cold War.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is hard to comprehend.
Over the years, more than just a few elected office-holders have been investigated for apparently breaching the law during their time in office. They’ve had to hire lawyers to defend themselves until courts could decide whether there was an actual breach of law. Have any, heretofore, come after the Treasury to reimburse their legal costs if they were let off without being indicted or bounced out of office?
I speculate that any who were indicted by parties who were shown to have sued under false pretenses or couldn’t produce evidence had to bear the injured party’s cost of legal defense. But cases against Trump while in office were different: results showed (in both cases I’m thinking of, or maybe 3 cases) that he did indeed breach the law, but he was let off because SCOTUS decided he couldn’t be prosecuted for actions taken while “performing official duties as president.” [I could be wrong, correct me if so.]
Is it because of that scurrilous “presidential immunity” decision by Rep-party bought-out SCOTUS majority that we the taxpayers are actually expected to pay for Trump legal defense in those cases?
LikeLiked by 1 person
bethree500: Unfortunately, yes, I think you are right on target.
LikeLike
I was thinking the same thing. If the Justice Department must pay all the costs of every investigation that doesn’t lead to a conviction, it will owe billions.
Why not pay everyone?
LikeLiked by 1 person