U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he hosts a Rose Garden Club luncheon at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., October 21, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump has demanded that the Justice Department pay him a whopping $230 million in compensation for criminal investigations he conducted before and after his first term in the White House, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The Times noted that any potential settlement may have to be approved by federal officials he appointed during his second term.
One of them, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, represented Trump as a defense attorney in criminal cases before his return to the White House in early January.
“As far as all the litigation … yes, they probably owe me a lot of money,” Trump told reporters at the White House later Tuesday.
“It could be” the $230 million reported by the Times, he acknowledged.
The president also said that any decision by the DOJ to pay him compensation “would have to go through my office, and it’s terribly strange to make a decision about where I pay myself.”
“In other words, have you ever had one of those cases where you have to decide how much to pay yourself in damages?” » Trump said.
“But I was damaged very badly, and any money I got, I would give to charity,” he added.
Trump filed complaints related to the DOJ investigations “through an administrative grievance process that is often the precursor to legal action,” the Times reported.
One complaint, submitted in 2023, seeks damages as part of the DOJ’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties to Trump’s campaign that year, the Times said.
The other complaint, filed in mid-2024, accuses the FBI of violating Trump’s rights by conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in 2022 as part of an investigation into his retention of classified government documents after he left the White House at the end of his first term.
Trump was indicted in federal court in Florida as part of that investigation, with keeping the documents and interfering with federal authorities’ efforts to recover them.
A judge threw out that case, and the DOJ ultimately dropped an appeal of his decision and the entire case after Trump won the 2024 election.
The Times noted that Trump alluded to his claims during an event last week in the Oval Office, while standing next to Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
“I have a lawsuit that’s going very well, and when I became president, I said, I’m going to sort of sue myself. I don’t know, how to settle the lawsuit, I’ll say, give me X amount of dollars, and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit,” Mr. Trump said.
“It looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?” » Trump said. “So I don’t know. But it was a very strong, very powerful trial.”
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team, when asked about the Times report, told CNBC: “President Trump continues to fight against all Democratic-led witch hunts, including the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax and the unconstitutional, un-American weaponization of our justice system by crooked Joe Biden and his handlers.
The White House referred CNBC’s questions about the Times article to the DOJ.
Generally speaking, we have no comment on the status of the claims, and will informally refer you to the president’s personal attorneys for details of what is being sought.
The DOJ declined to comment on the status of Trump’s claims.
But Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin said, referring to the potential for conflict among department officials in this situation: “In all circumstances, all Justice Department officials follow the advice of career ethics officials.” »
—CNBC Eamon Javers contributed to this story.
