- President Trump filed two administrative claims with the DOJ seeking $230 million, one related to the FBI’s 2016 Russia-collusion investigation and another over the 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid.
- Trump cites political harassment by the FBI and DOJ, specifically naming former Attorney General Merrick Garland, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, and special counsel Jack Smith.
- The DOJ will review the claims, while Trump says any money he might receive would go to charity, framing the complaints as addressing perceived wrongdoing rather than personal gain.
President Donald Trump is asking the Department of Justice to pay him about $230 million in damages for two FBI-led federal investigations against him.
Trump addressed the report in the Oval Office, Tuesday. “I don’t know what the numbers are. I don’t even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money. I’d give it to charity or something,” Trump said.
He referenced the defamation lawsuit against CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “They already paid, because what they did was wrong,” Trump said.
In 2023, Trump lodged a complaint seeking damages from the FBI and special counsel over the investigation into collusion between his campaign and Russia in 2016, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The second complaint was filed in the summer of 2024, and it accuses the FBI of violating his privacy in a Mar-a-Lago raid in 2022. It also accuses former attorney general Merrick Garland, former FBI Director Christopher Wray and special counsel Jack Smith of “harassment” intended to sway the 2024 election.
Trump allegedly submitted complaints through an administrative claim process, which acts as a precursor to lawsuits.
Trump to approve payout to Trump
Trump is ultimately the person who would approve or reject the payout for damages done by previous Justice Departments.
“It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, Tuesday.
“Did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you’re paying yourself in damages?” He continued, “But you know what, I was damaged very greatly, and any money that I would get, I would give to charity.”
These types of administrative claims are approved or rejected by the Justice Department, which is headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche. Blanche previously served as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer in three of the four major cases against him.
When asked if Trump’s DOJ officials would be conflicted in this kind of a decision, Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin told CNN, “In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”
Why did the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago in 2022?
On Aug. 8, 2022, thirty FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, seizing 11,000 documents and more than 100 classified items, CBS reported.
Officials at the National Archives were trying to retrieve documents from President Trump, and at one point, “Archives officials threatened that if Trump’s team did not voluntarily produce the materials, they would send a letter to Congress or the Justice Department revealing the lack of cooperation,” according to The Washington Post.
By not giving the National Archives the documents they requested, the FBI claimed Trump violated the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. § 793).
Then-FBI Director Wray told CBS News’ 60 Minutes, “Part of the FBI’s job is to safeguard classified information, and when we learn that information, classified material is not being properly stored, we have a duty to act. And I can tell you that in investigations like this one, a search warrant is not — and here was not — anybody’s first choice."
He continued, “We always try to pursue, invariably, try to pursue the least intrusive means, first trying to get the information back voluntarily, then with a subpoena, and only if, after all that, we learn that the agents haven’t been given all of the classified material, and in fact, those efforts have been frustrated, even obstructed, then our agents are left with no choice but to go to a federal judge, make a probable cause showing and get a search warrant. And that’s what happened here.”
On the other hand, Trump maintains the raid was unwarranted and targeted harassment, and he had the documents legally.
“These are dark times for our nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” he wrote on Truth Social.