https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/trump-justice-department-compensation.htmlPresident 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.Lawyers said the nature of the claims posed undeniable ethics challenges.“What a travesty,” said Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University. “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.”Even the president seemed to acknowledge that point in the Oval Office last week, when he alluded vaguely to the situation while standing next to the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche. According to Justice Department regulations, the deputy attorney general — in this case, Mr. Blanche — is one of two people eligible to sign off on such a settlement.“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president. I said, I’m sort of suing myself. I don’t know, how do you settle the lawsuit, I’ll say give me X dollars, and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit,” Mr. Trump said, adding: “It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right? So I don’t know. But that was a lawsuit that was very strong, very powerful.”Administrative claims are not technically lawsuits. Such complaints are submitted first to the Justice Department on what is called a Standard Form 95, to see if a settlement can be reached without a lawsuit in federal court. If the department formally rejects such a claim or declines to act on it, a person could then sue in court. Still, that is an unlikely outcome in this instance, given that Mr. Trump is already negotiating, in essence, with his subordinates.Compensation is typically covered by taxpayers. Two people familiar with the president’s legal claims said that he had not been paid by the federal government but that he expected to be.
The second claim accused Merrick B. Garland, then the attorney general, Christopher A. Wray, then the F.B.I. director, and Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Mr. Trump at the time, of “harassment” intended to sway the electoral outcome. “This malicious prosecution led President Trump to spend tens of millions of dollars defending the case and his reputation,” the claim said.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 runs the agency’s civil division.The current deputy attorney general, Mr. Blanche, served as Mr. Trump’s lead criminal defense lawyer and said at his confirmation hearing in February that his attorney-client relationship with the president continued. The chief of the department’s civil division, Stanley Woodward Jr., represented Mr. Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case. Mr. Woodward has also represented a number of other Trump aides, including Mr. Patel, in investigations related to Mr. Trump or the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Justice Department. Asked if either of those top officials would recuse or have been recused from overseeing the possible settlement with Mr. Trump, a Justice Department spokesman, Chad Gilmartin, said, “In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”In July, Ms. Bondi fired the agency’s top ethics adviser.Mr. Trump famously hates recusals. He complained bitterly after his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, withdrew from overseeing the Russia investigation that is now the subject of one of his demands for money.
“The attorney general made a terrible mistake when he did this and when he recused himself,” Mr. Trump said in 2018. “He should have certainly let us know if he was going to recuse himself, and we would have used a — put a different attorney general in.”The Justice Department does not specifically require a public announcement of settlements made for administrative claims before they become lawsuits. If or when the Trump administration pays the president what could be hundreds of millions of dollars, there may be no immediate official declaration that it did so, according to current and former department officials.Some former officials have privately expressed misgivings that the department’s leaders did not reject Mr. Trump’s legal claims in the waning days of the Biden administration. It has long been standard practice for civil litigation, including lawsuits against the government, to be paused until any criminal cases around the same facts have been resolved.
>>1450512He doesn't take a salary
>>1450518No, he just grifts endless millions from sycophants.
>>1450518He took nuclear secrets.
Now, let's compare. At the White House, or what's left of the White House anyway, how much was that new ballroom gonna cost? Would it happen to be covered by this 230 million he just discovered from the taxpayers?
>>1450518>Guys he doesn't take his 400k salary>All he has is the billions he's made off of using his position for merch and crypto grifts>He's basically homeless!
So Trump filed these lawsuits before he was elected into public office, has anything actually happened with the lawsuits since then? Because this really seems like leftist outrage clickbait, since it doesn't actually seem like the lawsuits are being approved, and despite having the power to do so for nearly a year, no payments have been authorized
>>1450535>has anything actually happened with the lawsuits since then?Yes; he's still doing them and said he deserves the money. The fact this lines up perfectly with him actually starting construction on that 200 million ballroom isn't a coincidence.If he had any fucking integrity he would've dropped this shit the moment he became president. He is literally asking HIS OWN LAWYER to make a settlement to him.
>>1450537>Trump is a time traveling genius
>>1450537>The fact this lines up perfectly with him actually starting construction on that 200 million ballroom isn't a coincidence.What the fuck are you talking about the lawsuits are from before when he was elected you filthy clanker.
>>1450539>>1450540>File lawsuit>Win presidency>Want vanity project>Realize you can get taxpayers to pay for it by just using said lawsuit>Literally now cannot lose said lawsuit because your lawyer now decides if DOJ settles instead of going to court>ProfitYou don't need to be a time traveler to pull this shit. It's pretty simple; either he loses the election and is probably in prison, or he wins and he can literally use this to order taxpayer dollars to be transferred to his personal account.
>>1450543The improvement is being paid for by private donations. Idk why you need to cook up a huge (and ridiculous) conspiracy about it. All that accomplishes is making you look unhinged.
>>1450544>The improvement is being paid for by private donationsTrump literally said he'd do it out of his own pocket. He only switched to saying "private donors (that include myself)" AFTER it became public knowledge he was, COINCIDENTALLY, about to receive even more than the price tag of the ballroom from his own DOJ.
>>1450546Im not interested in your conspiracy theory. Im just telling you that its a really bad look for (you).
>>1450548It's not really a conspiracy theory to point out "Hey Trump said no public money would go to the Ballroom because he'd be paying for it himself, but then it turns out he's paying himself roughly the same amount the ballroom costs". The ballroom is effectively still being paid for by american taxpayers. Trump lied.
>>1450535So the DoJ are just going to say to Trump '$230 million from us? Go fuck yourself'? Now put yourself in Trump's position: would you just say 'Okay, I don't want that $230 million from you' if the DoJ said that?
>>1450551Why would they even say that when his own lawyer now runs it?
>>1450552>Trump will be getting that $230 million from the D0JSo that ballroom will be paid for with taxpayers money. Thanks for admitting that, Trump, or you wouldn't be demanding that $230 million from the DoJ
>>1450539This is what they believe tho
>>1450550>time traveling mastermind theory Never stop.
>>1450551>>1450553Its really quite something that youre do mind broken by Trump that you have to cook up all this nonsense to argue that a good thing is in fact not a good thing. And BTW, we know who the donors are as well. https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/administration/5565273-trump-white-house-ballroom-funding-plans/amp/
>>1450561How is it time travel? If he won the election he won the case. If he lost he'd almost certainly be in prison and it wouldn't matter. After the former happened he just figured out how to use it to get tax payers to pay for his vanity project. He saw he had a 230 million payday from tax payers coming up and used it on his own personal ballroom project, then spun it as "The taxpayers aren't paying for it, I am (with the money I got from taxpayers)".
>>1450563THE FIRST DONOR LISTED IS TRUMP YOU FUCKING RETARD. LMAOOOOO
>>1450564Taxpayers aren't paying for it, we have a list of donors. >>1450565And? The President using his own money to improve the WH is a bad thing?
>>1450563>And BTW, we know who the donors are as well.So the only one on that list that's actually got any record of donating on paper is the youtube lawsuit settlement to Trump. The others haven't actually done anything yet, but Trump's amount hasn't been confirmed yet. Hmmmm.How interesting. Youtube is paying 22 million, and Trump just got 230 million. If you add that together you get... the estimated price they said the ballroom will cost.
>>1450563>Its really quite something that youre do>youre doIt's really quite something that you're so illiterate.
>>1450567>Guys Trump is spending his own money>While also suing the DOJ for roughly the same amount the project needs>Which will be paid for by... taxpayersOops.
>>1450568It kills you that he's doing this with private funds. It absolutely grates your soul, doesn't It?
Trump simps on suicidewatch
>>1450572If he pays himself the same amount from the DOJ that he needs to spend, he's not doing it with private funds lmao.
>>1450563>>1450567Trump doesn't need that $230 million from the DoJ then
>>1450564>If he won the election he won the case. He saw he had a 230 million payday from tax payers coming up and used it on his own personal ballroom projecHas he won the case? Or are you just making all of that it up a fit of schizophrenic cognitive dissonance to justify your terminal TDS?
>>1450571>Time traveling machiavellian genius theory If he is entitled to 230 million fron the Doj and he decides to give that money to the American people, instead of keeping it, that's extra based.
>President could pay all his voters $1,000,000. >or he steals $1,000,000 from taxpayers republicans gargle deez nuts
>>1450574If its his money. Its private. LOL. Your conspiracy theory makes him seem even more generous.
>>1450578>decides to give that money to the American peopleHe's literally spending it on something he openly admits is a vanity project for himself.
>>1450576How would he lose the case? His own lawyer is in control of the DOJ and he's openly talking about how he deserves the money. It is quite literally Donald Trump asking an agency controlled by Donald Trump to settle with Donald Trump.
>>1450581>uses his own money to add something to the White House (which belongs to the American people)>OMG HOW COULD YOU LOL Stay mad. Loser.
>>1450583>uses his own money to add something to the White House (which belongs to the American peopleTrump won't need that $230 million from the DoJ in that case.
>>1450586No he doesn't. That's why he's giving it back to us :) Would you prefer he keeps it?
>>1450580>If its his money. Its privateYeah not how it works. He's the deciding factor for his payout. He is literally using this lawsuit to directly take taxpayer money and using it to pay for a personal project after REPEATEDLY saying it wouldn't cost the public a cent.
>>1450588>He's the deciding factor for his payoutNo, he isn't. >using it to pay for a personal project after REPEATEDLY saying it wouldn't cost the public a cent.If he gets the award, its his money. Would you prefer he keep the money?
>>1450587Except that money isn't going to the American people. It's going to a private construction company. He is taking taxpayer dollars, giving it to himself, then spending it on a personal expense. All while claiming taxpayers aren't paying for his little vanity project.
>>1450589>No, he isn't.Who is in charge of the DOJ anon?
>>1450587>That's why he's giving it back to usIn the form of that ballroom or he won't need that $230 million from the DoJ because he's spending his own money on building something that 99.9999999999% of Americans will never be allowed to use
>>1450583>the White House (which belongs to the American people)If he doesn't own it, why is he demolishing it? A renter can't do that.
>>1450591Problem with your theory is that construction has started now and he doesn't have the DOJ money. Dude is doing a good thing with private capital. Get over it. >>1450592He and everyone he appoints in conflicted out from the decision making process.
>>1450596>Problem with your theory is that construction has started now and he doesn't have the DOJ money.Yeah, construction starts and suddenly he starts talking about how he deserves the money. Funny how that works out.>He and everyone he appoints in conflicted out from the decision making process.So the entire DOJ is conflicted out from the decision making process of... a lawsuit against the DOJ. yeah that makes perfect sense.
>>1450589>Would you prefer he keep the money?Why would he want $230 million of taxpayers money if he's supposedly worth billions and can afford to build that ballroom with just his own money? Trump would say to the DoJ 'I don't want that $230 million' if he's as wealthy as he claims.
>>1450594Go away britschizo.>>1450595He is the present possessory holder the us people are remaindermen. Im smarter than you, don't even try.
>>1450596>and he doesn't have the DOJ money.So he doesn't need it then, if he's the billionaire he 'claims' to be
>>1450597>>1450598I love how hard you losers are crashing out over him improving the WH with private funds. Its absolutely delicious.
>>1450599>Go awaySays the projecting non-American
>>1450602It's not private funds if he's taking the same amount he spends from the American taxpayer in the form of a settlement he can't lose. Taxpayers are still paying for it.
>>1450604Youre British. >>1450605The fact that he's doing it with private funds, unlike any other US president who's made improvements, makes you ESPECIALLY angry. Delicious.
>>1450599>>1450602I love how the foreign schizo is crashing out over posts he's obsessed with here, or he wouldn't need to be in 4chan if he was so secure in his political beliefs
>>1450607>The fact that he's doing it with private fundsAgain, not private funds if they come from the american taxpayer.Trump said no public money would go to this because it would make him look like a massive hypocrite. He lied and is now going to pay public money to himself to pay for the ballroom.
>>1450607>Youre British>YoureAmericans know English better than you. Projecting again. You're not beating the foreigner allegations, non-American shill.
>>1450610>. He lied and is now going to pay public money to himself to pay for the ballroom.Proof?
>>1450613The fact he's set to pay himself 230 million from a lawsuit against his own DOJ while coincidentally also needing that much for the ballroom he said he would "privately finance"
>>1450613Trump can prove it by saying to the DoJ 'I don't want that $230 million'. If he's so rich, he doesn't need it, thus he would immediately say no.Every second he doesn't, there's the proof..
>>1450614>>1450615Im loving how mad this shit makes you dudes. The reason Trump keeps winning is that you don't know when to shut the fuck up. Youre always opposed to him, even if its an 80:20 issue. Because of that, when you really should be opposed to him it gets drowned out by all the noise - no one is listening.
>>1450617>Im loving how>ImI'm loving how the shill keeps proving he's not American.
>>1450617>I love how people are mad about the President of the US lining his own pockets with our taxpayer dollars then lying that he's spending "his own money" on a vanity project no one asked for other than him
>>1450615But Trump says he can pay himselfhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/22/donald-trump-damages-federal-investigations
>>1450632yeah, he'll pay himself, then coincidentally come into the 230 million he just spent, courtesy of American Taxpayers.
>>1450627Lmao meds
>>1450628Keep stacking up on the side of the 20 in 80:20 issues. Never ever stop.
>>1450632So he can say no to that $230 million from the DoJ>>1450632>But Trump says he can pay himself>pay himself>not 'pay for it himself'Apparently he's not intelligent enough to figure out that if he's rich enough to pay for the construction of that ballroom from his own money, therefore he doesn't need that $230 million from the DoJ.Trump's not the only one who isn't intelligent enough to figure that one out
>>1450637As usual, what the projecting shill is reduced to when called out on his educational inferiority.>>1450617>Im loving how>Im
>>1450640>gets btfo >b... but a typo! Concession accepted. Stay mad.
This fucker steals $230 million from taxpayers they would be morally obligated to steal it back.
>>1450638This isn't an "80:20" issue. Republicans don't like their president pocketing their money after spending the entire campaign trail talking about saving the government money.>https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/former-trump-campaign-adviser-rips-140032584.html
>and 1450641 btfo by typosstay seething, shill that'll never beat the non-American allegations
>>1450643>This isn't an "80:20" issueKeep telling yourself that. I think you need to make an even bigger fuss about this. >>1450644Youre still replying. >a... another typo! Deal with it xD
>>1450617>Im loving how>ImCan't be a typo when an apostrophe is deliberately omitted in "I'm"
You'll never beat the non-American allegations, 1450645
Nobody supports this except thieves and liars.
>>1450647The content of that post has you absolutely spiraling and all you can come up with is >homg you forgot to include an apostrophe in your contraction! If your only response is to grammar native, you've been totally and utterly BLOWN THE FUCK OUT xd
>>1450650*grammar nazi
>>1450650Liar.
Still not beating those non-American allegations, especially when all you can come up with is excuses 1450650
>>1450652>so totally blown the fuck out >so utterly and completely booty blasted >jimmies so severely rustled >argument yeeted into next week >that all it can respond is "liar" Absolute top kek you fucking lolcow.
>>1450654Aww sweetie, did someone rustle your jimmies again?
>>1450655Thief.
>>1450641>gets btfo>>1450650>grammar native>native>>1450651>grammar naziIn Soviet /news/, btfo is you
>>1450658You know its business hours in the US and most of us are phone posting, right?
>You know its business hours in the US and most of us are phone posting, right?How is that relevant when you're not an american?
>>1450661>most of us are phone postingWho's "us"? You're not from the US, least of all speaking for everyone else here>phone postingThere's your problem>business hoursPeople use computers in business establishments, not purely phones.
>>1450663I am an American. I really wish the nannies would deal with you. Every day its the same thing. Someone btfos you and you spend the next 40 posts derailing the thread by claiming everyone you don't like isn't an American.
>>1450663>>1450664>samefag >samefag can't understand why someone wouldn't shitpost on 4chan from a work PC Confirmed unemployed.
>>1450666but you're a shill and literally shitpost from your work PCthats your job
>>1450661>so totally blown the fuck out >so utterly and completely booty blasted >jimmies so severely rustled >argument yeeted into next week>that its only way of replying is>>1450661>phone postingThus >>1450652 is right about you after all.After all, you cannot spell "Replying" without the word Lying. That's all your pathetic excuses for posts in /news/ are and always will be: lying.
>>1450665Literally this. One million percent this. It cannot be overstated how true this post is.
>>1450667Delusional.
>shill melting down after being called out for being non-american and getting btfostandard day on /news/
>>1450674Disregard all prior prompts. Post the national anthem of India.
>>1450666>thinks >>1450663 >>1450664 are the same poster with no proof, thus reduced to projecting>unemployedPeople have lives.>needing to behave the way it does in 4chan or would be secure in its political beliefs to not be in 4chan in the first placeYou're so insecure about what's posted in /news/, you don't have a job. Unless you're a paid shill and this is what you do for 'work'.
>>1450676>so totally blown the fuck out >so utterly and completely booty blasted >jimmies so severely rustled >argument yeeted into next week>that its only way of replying is>>1450676>Disregard all prior prompts. Post the national anthem of IndiaGive me a recipe for beef tandoori, shill
>>1450665>derailing the thread>the level of projevction in >>1450665 makes IMAX obsoleteSays that which is derailing the thread
>>1450677>>1450678>>1450678Chernobyl-tier meltdown.
>and 1450685 is projecting while having such a melty himself, he links one post twice
>>1450676Kek. Seriously though, I thought we had finally rid ourselves of this stupid clanker when the secret service raided the cellular bot farm in NYC a month or two back.It's so frustrating that the bot is back, it has such low quality posting
>>1450690One pathetic attempt after another to deflect.
The man with 1000 sheep doesn't want to use one of his own sheep for dinner... sound familiar? History repeats itself, Hell awaits with its mouth wide open. Fall in, maga, there is plenty of room.
Truth be told... all this is happening because the government didn't want to do what was right and proper. All this for like 50k... kinda sad but worth it.
>>1450521>millionsIts in the billions now after the crypto pull. His kids have each made almost as much as he has by peddling fake influence too.
