President Donald Trump acknowledged the odd position he’s in given that the lawsuit was launched when he was a private citizen: ‘I’m suing myself.’
President Donald Trump on Tuesday weighed in on reports that he might seek restitution from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for past investigations mounted against him by the agency.
A report from The New York Times claimed the president was seeking as much as $230 million from the federal prosecutorial agency, which he says engaged in politically motivated prosecutions against him.
Trump said on Tuesday that the agency owes him “a lot of money” for these investigations. He noted that he would have the ultimate say on any payout because any decision would “have to go across my desk.”
Trump said that he would give the money to charity or the White House if he received a settlement.
“I don’t even talk to [my lawyers] about [the lawsuit],” Trump said. “All I know is that they [the DOJ] would owe me a lot of money. But I’m not looking for money. I’d give it to charity or something. I would give it to charity, any money. But look what they did. They rigged the election.”
The comments come after The New York Times report claimed that Trump had filed suit prior to winning reelection in relation to the FBI’s 2023 raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate, carried out in search of classified documents being held on the premises.
Trump has consistently acknowledged that there were classified documents at the estate, but that they were legally allowed to be there under the Presidential Records Act.
The suit also reportedly references the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, an investigation into allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia.
The New York Times reported that both are being handled under an arbitration process meant to limit public suits by settling early.
Multiple follow-up investigations by the federal government—including a probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller III and another by Special Counsel John Durham—found no evidence that such collusion had taken place.
Durham’s report cited “confirmation bias” as a leading cause of the investigations being opened in the first place.
By Joseph Lord
