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Donald Trump declared himself the arbiter of whether or not his own administration should pay him damages over past federal investigations, telling reporters that any such decision “would have to go across my desk”.
The president insisted on Tuesday that the government owes him “a lot of money” for previous justice department investigations into his conduct, while at the same time asserting his personal authority over any potential payout.
“It’s interesting, ’cause I’m the one that makes the decision, right?” Trump said at the White House, responding to questions about administrative claims he filed seeking roughly $230m related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The New York Times had reported the claims on Tuesday.
Trump’s comment lays out a circular situation: Trump as president would in effect decide whether Trump as claimant receives taxpayer money for investigations into Trump as defendant.
“I’m suing myself,” Trump said last week, in many ways recognizing the absurdity. “I’ll say, ‘Give me X dollars,’ and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit.”
Trump suggested he might donate any proceeds or use them to fund a ballroom he is building at the White House.
Trump’s claims were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 law allowing citizens to seek damages from the government for wrongful acts by federal employees. The process is normally handled by career officials in the justice department’s civil division, who are deliberately insulated from political interference.
But Trump’s allies now occupy key positions in the very department that would evaluate his claims. Todd Blanche, who served as Trump’s lead defense lawyer in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, is now deputy attorney general. Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta, is associate attorney general.
The Federal Tort Claims Act specifically bars claims arising from discretionary or policy actions, meaning a president seeking compensation for law enforcement investigations into his own conduct would fall well outside the statute’s intended scope.
No sitting president has ever sought damages from the federal government over investigations into their own actions.
One claim, filed in August 2024, alleges “malicious prosecution” over the Mar-a-Lago search and subsequent charges that Trump hoarded classified documents, according to the Associated Press. His lawyers argued the case was politically motivated to damage his presidential campaign and forced him to spend tens of millions on legal defense.
Special counsel Jack Smith dropped those charges last November, citing justice department policy against indicting sitting presidents.
The second claim relates to the investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign, an inquiry that continues to anger the president years after its conclusion.
Trump said on Tuesday he did not know the specific dollar amounts being sought and suggested he had not discussed the matter with officials. “All I know is that, they would owe me a lot of money,” he said.
A Department of Justice spokesperson, Chad Gilmartin, said in a statement: “In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”
