Trump wants $230 million from DOJ for investigating him: NYT

President Donald Trump has demanded that the Department of Justice pay him a whopping $230 million in compensation for its criminal investigations of him after his first term in the White House ended, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The Times noted that any potential settlement might have to be approved by people he has appointed during his second term.

One of them, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, previously represented Trump as a defense attorney in criminal cases against the president.

Trump submitted complaints related to the DOJ’s probes “through an administrative claim process that is often the precursor to lawsuits,” the newspaper reported.

One claim, submitted in 2023, requests damages in connection with the DOJ’s investigation of interference in the 2016 presidential election by Russia and potential connections to Trump’s campaign that year, the Times said.

The other claim, filed in mid-2024, accuses the FBI of violating Trump’s rights by conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in 2022 as part of an investigation into his retention of classified government documents after leaving the White House at the end of his first term.

Trump was indicted in federal court in Florida in connection with that investigation on charges of retaining those records and of interfering in efforts by federal authorities to recover them.

A judge tossed out that case, and the DOJ ultimately dropped an appeal of her decision and the entire case after Trump won the 2024 election.

The Times noted that Trump alluded to his claims during an event last week in the Oval Office, while standing next to Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

“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.

“It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?” Trump said. “So I don’t know. But that was a lawsuit that was very strong, very powerful.”

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team, when asked about the Times report, told CNBC, “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.”

The White House referred questions from CNBC about the Times article to the DOJ. CNBC has requested comment from the DOJ.

— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this story.