Negotiating with Subordinates... Compensation to Be Paid with Taxpayer Funds
Trump: "If I Receive Money, I Will Donate or Use It for White House Restoration"
On October 21 (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported that President Donald Trump of the United States is demanding $230 million (approximately 329.2 billion won) in compensation from the Department of Justice, claiming that past federal investigations into him were unjust.
According to the NYT, President Trump filed this administrative claim with the Department of Justice between 2023 and 2024, before the start of his second term. An administrative claim is a procedure to determine whether a settlement with the executive branch is possible before filing a lawsuit in federal court. If the Department of Justice rejects the claim, the claimant can proceed to file a lawsuit in court.
At the end of 2023, President Trump first requested compensation, asserting that investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the special counsel into Russian election interference and the Trump campaign's alleged ties in 2016 unjustly infringed upon his rights. He then filed an additional claim in the summer of 2024, stating that the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in 2022 violated his privacy.
This matter raises the potential for a conflict of interest, as senior officials at the Department of Justice, who are under President Trump's influence, must decide whether to grant compensation related to him. In effect, he is negotiating with his own subordinates.
According to Department of Justice guidelines, any settlement exceeding $4 million must be approved by either the Deputy Attorney General or an Assistant Attorney General. The current Assistant Attorney General, Todd Blanche, is a close associate of President Trump and has served as a lead defense attorney in major criminal cases, including the 'hush money' payment allegations.
Bennett Gershman, a professor of ethics at Pace University, criticized, "Those assisting President Trump are essentially deciding whether he will win or lose," adding, "This is a fundamental and basic ethical conflict."
The NYT commented, "This situation is unprecedented in American history," and described it as "a stark example that vividly illustrates the ethical conflicts that can arise when a president appoints his former attorney to the Department of Justice."
Two sources familiar with the matter told the NYT that they expect President Trump to receive compensation from the federal government. Compensation is typically paid out of taxpayer funds.
The Department of Justice is not obligated to make a public announcement about an administrative claim settlement before it proceeds to litigation. Former and current officials at the Department of Justice indicated that even if President Trump is awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation, the department is unlikely to immediately issue an official announcement.
On this day, when asked by reporters at the White House whether he was indeed seeking compensation from the Department of Justice, President Trump replied, "Yes," and added, "They probably owe me quite a bit of money for that." He went on to emphasize that he has donated all of his presidential salary, both during his first term and now, and stated, "If I receive money from the country, I will use it for a good cause. I may donate it to charity or use it for something like restoring the White House."
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