President Donald Trump has reportedly demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice pay him $230 million to compensate him over federal investigations conducted by the DOJ during the Biden administration, which Trump claims were unfounded and politically motivated.
When asked about the reported demand for taxpayer money as compensation, the President said, “I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to charity.”
Former Southern District of New York prosecutor Elie Honig responded to the news on CNN where he said: “A person who sues the Justice Department has to show that there was some malice, some intentional wrongdoing, some bad intent. And let’s remember the reason those indictments against Donald Trump went away was not because of prosecutorial misconduct or malice. It’s because he won the election and they were dismissed. So I don’t think in the ordinary course, Donald Trump would be entitled to a penny.”
“A person who sues the Justice Department has to show that there was some malice, some intentional wrongdoing, some bad intent. And let’s remember the reason those indictments against Donald Trump went away was not because of prosecutorial misconduct or malice. It’s because he… pic.twitter.com/oZoZd9yeFa
— StudiGo (@StudiGo_LLC) October 22, 2025
U.S. Congressman Dan Goldman (D-NY), also a former federal prosecutor, added: “Trump is asking his own former personal attorneys, who he installed to run the DOJ, for a $230M taxpayer-funded payout. Aside from the fact that his claim is meritless — he would have been convicted in both cases — this blatant corruption would make even Vladimir Putin blush.”
Trump is asking his own former personal attorneys, who he installed to run the DOJ, for a $230M taxpayer-funded payout.
Aside from the fact that his claim is meritless — he would have been convicted in both cases — this blatant corruption would make even Vladimir Putin blush.… pic.twitter.com/yGBzicdWHw
— Rep. Dan Goldman (@RepDanGoldman) October 22, 2025
Trump himself acknowledged the extremely unusual situation and the enormous potential such a payment would be seen as corrupt. Asked about the reports that he’s seeking these damages, the President said it “could be” something that happens, but that “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.” Notably, before Trump approved the payment it would have to be approved by Justice Department officials like Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who, of course, is Trump’s former personal attorney.
Concerning Blanche, without naming him, and the potential $230 million payout, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told CNN this week that Trump is “just going to just see if his puppets that he put in that Justice Department are going to perform for him.”
NOTE: One of the investigations Trump claims he is owed for was the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Trump campaign collaboration with Russia and alleged obstruction of justice by the President. Though Trump said the Mueller Report that resulted from this investigation “fully exonerated” him, Mueller’s conclusion — in which he did not charge Trump with a crime — did not support that view, concluding instead that he was unable to charge the President because “long-standing Department policy” dictated that “a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office.”
Specifically, Mueller wrote: “If we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime. The introduction to volume two of our report explains that decision. It explains that under long-standing Department policy, a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view—that too is prohibited. The Special Counsel’s Office is part of the Department of Justice and, by regulation, it was bound by that Department policy. Charging the President with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.”