President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “could be” seeking $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, did you ever have 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.
“As far as all of the litigation … they probably owe me a lot of money, but if I get money from our country, I’ll do something nice with it,” he said.
The New York Times reported Tuesday on that Trump was seeking $230 million in compensation and that any settlement might be approved by Justice Department officials who defended Trump, or those around him, during the investigations.
Trump submitted the complaints in 2023 and 2024, before he was reelected, The Times report says. The first claim seeks damages for alleged rights violations including the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The second complaint focuses on Trump’s classified documents case — which was dismissed after he was reelected — including accusing the FBI of violating his privacy when it searched his Florida estate in 2022. CNN previously reported on that claim, which sought $100 million.
Asked to confirm the $230 million amount, a spokesperson for Trump’s outside legal team said only that “President Trump continues to fight back against all Democrat-led Witch Hunts, including the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax and the un-Constitutional and un-American weaponization of our justice system by Crooked Joe Biden and his handlers.”
It was not immediately clear what steps Trump or his legal team had taken more recently to press the Justice Department for a payment out of those complaints. According to The Times, both claims were filed as part of an administrative process that allows people who believe they have been wronged to seek compensation from federal agencies. That is different from a lawsuit filed in court and decided by a judge.
The No. 2 official at the Justice Department — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — worked as Trump’s lead criminal defense lawyer. Another top DOJ lawyer, Stanley Woodward, who runs the department’s Civil Division, represented a Trump co-defendant in the classified documents case.
In theory, both officials could be involved in discussions about paying a settlement to someone alleging wrongdoing.
Asked whether top Justice Department officials would be conflicted in this matter, DOJ spokesperson Chad Gilmartin told CNN, “In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”
The Justice Department fired its ethics chief in July, part of a purge of at least a dozen employees who had worked with the special counsel who brought the federal indictments against Trump.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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