US President Donald. Photo / Getty Images
Ever since his inauguration in January, President Donald Trump has sat uncharacteristically silent in the face of a potential windfall of more than US$100 million ($170m) from United States taxpayers.
As a private citizen, he claimed he was entitled to money to compensate him for what he calls politicised investigations he underwent.
As president, he could now, in effect, order that government to pay him.
If the payment came in the form of a settlement, the White House might be under no immediate legal obligation to disclose it to the public.
Yesterday, when the subject was highlighted in a news report, the President responded to questions with equivocation.
“All I know is they would owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money,” Trump told reporters, adding that if he did get a payment, “any money that I would get, I would give to charity”.
“It’s interesting because I’m the one that makes a decision. And, you know, that decision would have to go across my desk,” he said. “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
At issue are two claims Trump filed against the government in 2023 and 2024.
The first asked the Justice Department to pay him for damages he says he suffered as a result of the FBI probe and special counsel investigation that looked into the connection between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign, according to a person familiar with the complaint.
Last year, Trump filed his second complaint, that time asking for US$100m in damages related to the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago property in 2022.
Agents searched the property as part of the investigation of Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of the Government’s efforts to reclaim them.
Under the law he used, the Federal Tort Claims Act, the Justice Department typically decides on whether to pay a claim against the Government.
Thousands of such claims are filed each year.
Trump’s claims, however, are the only ones filed by the person who appoints the Justice Department’s leaders.
To date, Trump has not taken any public step to enforce his claim. Under the law, if the Government does not pay a claim within six months, the claimant has the right to sue in court. Trump hasn’t done so.
Yesterday, he didn’t say he would. But he didn’t rule it out, either.
“It could be. I don’t know what the numbers are. 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,” he said.
The more likely scenario for Trump would be to reach a settlement with a Justice Department he has publicly said works for him.
Trump did not comment on whether formal settlement negotiations are under way.
Any such discussions would pose serious ethical challenges because some of the defence lawyers who represented Trump in the investigations at the centre of his claims are now top Justice Department officials, who would probably need to sign off on any agreement.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general, served as Trump’s top personal defence lawyer in the classified document case. Stanley Woodward, who heads the civil division, served as the top lawyer for Trump’s co-defendant in that case.
Trump acknowledged the thorniness of any potential settlement when he obliquely raised the subject at a White House event last week with Attorney-General Pam Bondi, Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Without specifying what he was referring to, he talked about a claim he had in which he said he would be in effect suing himself.
“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,” Trump said then.
“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.”
The New York Times reported yesterday that Trump’s remarks were a reference to his claims against the government over the two investigations, and that the total claim was for US$230m. The existence of Trump’s US$100m over the Mar-a-Lago search had been publicly reported.
Under the Tort Claims Act, people who want to sue the federal government for damages must first lodge an administrative complaint with the federal Government. Trump, who was alleging misdoings by the FBI, filed his claim at the Justice Department.
The claims process is typically not made public. But Trump indicated in his public statements that the Justice Department has not settled the claims with him.
During the Biden administration, the Justice Department under Attorney-General Merrick Garland did not settle or close the two claims, according to a person familiar with the matter.
It is unclear why the department did not respond to or close the 2023 claim related to the Russia investigation, but federal regulations do not require the Government to respond to claims, and it is not unusual for officials to sit on them for a long time.
The claim related to the Mar-a-Lago search would have been harder for the Justice Department to settle since the federal case against Trump was dismissed only in the final days of the Biden administration. The Justice Department would not typically resolve claims related to ongoing cases.
A settlement of an administrative claim for upwards of US$100m would be far larger than is typical. According to the Justice Department manual, settlement agreements must be signed off on by either the deputy attorney-general or associate attorney general.
The Justice Department would not comment on the status of any negotiations but said when asked about potential recusals of Blanche and Woodward that “all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials”.
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