CNN reports President Donald Trump is demanding the Department of Justice pay him $230 million to settle claims that he was damaged by investigations into his attempt to overthrow the 2016 election and the 2024 investigation into his alleged theft of classified documents.
“Well, I guess they probably owe me a lot of money for that,” Trump told reporters in an interview. “… It's interesting because I'm the one that makes the decision, right? And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk. And it's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself.”
Former federal prosecutor and podcaster Alyse Adamson told CNN anchor Audie Cornish that she initially doubted the veracity of the claim.
“I didn't think this was a real story. I actually thought this was like a fake A.I. generated headline because it's so absurd, quite frankly,” Adamson told Cornish. “Former defendants or targets of investigations can file a claim through the administrative process if they feel like they were wrongly targeted or something went wrong. So, that does happen. What has never happened, though, is a former defendant who then files a claim, then gets elected president and is now seeking to pay themselves $230 million.”
“We would all be paying this demand,” Adamson added. “… We just heard in the soundbite, he thinks that for some reason, we all owe him $230 million.”
“Cornish pointed out that the people needed to sign off on this decision would be Trump’s former personal lawyers who Trump has now installed in the justice department.
“This is a giant conflict of interest,” Adamson said. “I think that's very important for people to understand. These are folks who served as Donald Trump's personal attorneys. We're talking about Todd Blanche, who is now the deputy attorney general. And then Stanley Woodward, who I believe is an associate general counsel. He's a head of the [DOJ’s] Civil Division. So, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer would essentially be the person to sign off on his claim. And that, again, is what we call a conflict of interest in the legal profession. It's an ethical violation. And he, quite frankly, should recuse himself.”
Adamson also pointed out that the settlement would mean Trump was maliciously prosecuted when he was not.
“Trump's prosecutions weren't dismissed because the DOJ acknowledged any wrongdoing or the cases didn't have merit. [Trump’s appointed judge] Aileen Cannon … dismissed the [documents] case and then Jack Smith, the special counsel, dismissed the January 6th case against Trump because Trump won the presidency and could no longer be prosecuted.”