President Donald Trump bragged about demanding a massive payout as a result of two complaints he brought against the Justice Department over the federal investigations into him.
After Trump left office in 2021, the Justice Department launched a pair of probes that looked into his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump later filed two complaints — one in 2023 and one in 2024 — through “an administrative claim process,” which could lead to a lawsuit, demanding the Justice Department pay him $230 million in compensation the New York Times reported in October.
In a wide-ranging speech in North Carolina on Friday, which was billed as remarks on the economy, the president digressed into his complaints, now inflating that potential sum to $1 billion.
“We have all the evidence, and we have to do something about it,” Trump boomed as the crowd erupted in claps and cheers. “I brought a lawsuit, and I’m winning the lawsuit. There’s only one problem. I’m the one who has to settle it. In other words, I am suing, and I’m the one that’s supposed to settle it.”
“So, maybe I’ll give myself $1 billion and give it all to charity,” he then suggested before changing his mind. “Actually, maybe I shouldn’t give it to charity. Maybe I should keep the money.”
He then recounted the series of events as if he were reading aloud newspaper headlines: “Donald Trump sues the United States of America. Donald Trump becomes president. And now Donald Trump has to settle the suit.” The president then said: “I hereby give myself $1 billion.”
Trump once again appeared to waver about what to do with the potential sum. “Actually, maybe I shouldn’t give it to charity. Maybe I should keep the money. No? A lot of people say: ‘Do it.’ I don’t wanna do it,” he told the crowd.
“But whatever happens, it’s all going to good charities. Is that ok? All going to good charities. But isn’t that a strange position to be in? I’ve gotta make, I’ve gotta make a deal. I negotiate with myself,” the president concluded.
Jack Smith, the DOJ special prosecutor charged with leading the federal probes, dropped the cases against the incoming president after Trump won the 2024 election.
Smith told members of Congress this week that his investigative team had “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the 2020 election results and had collected “powerful evidence” that he had violated the law related to the handling of classified documents.
Earlier in his speech Friday, Trump slammed the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 as part of the Justice Department’s classified documents case. The president called the raid “illegal and disgusting,” alleging the raid extended to his wife Melania Trump’s “panties” drawer.
It’s not immediately clear what Trump meant by having “all the evidence.” However, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley published emails this week between FBI and DOJ officials in the months leading up to the August 2022 raid, which suggested that the bureau didn’t believe it had probable cause to execute the search warrant on Trump’s property, while the Justice Department insisted it did.
