Thousands of such claims are filed each year.
Trump’s claims, however, are the only ones presented by whoever appoints the leaders of the Justice Department.
This image contained in a Justice Department court filing shows documents seized during the FBI’s 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.Credit: AP
To date, Trump has not taken any public action to enforce his claim. Under the law, if the government does not pay the claim within six months, the plaintiff has the right to sue in court. Trump has not done it.
This week he didn’t say he would. But he didn’t rule it out either.
“It could be. I don’t know what the numbers are. I don’t even talk to them about it. All I know is that they owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money,” he said.
Charging
The most likely scenario for Trump would be to strike a deal with a Justice Department that he has publicly said works for him. Trump did not comment on whether formal negotiations were underway to reach a deal. Any such discussion would raise serious ethical challenges because some of the defense lawyers who represented Trump in the investigations at the center of his claims are now senior Justice Department officials, who would likely need to approve any settlement.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, was Trump’s lead personal defense attorney in the classified documents case. Stanley Woodward, who heads the civil division, was the lead attorney for Trump’s co-defendant in that case.
Trump acknowledged the thorniness of any potential deal when he indirectly raised the issue at a White House event last week with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel. Without specifying what he was referring to, he talked about a claim he had in which he said he would actually sue himself.
“I don’t know, how do you resolve the lawsuit? I’ll say ‘give me X dollars,’ and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit,” Trump said then. “It looks bad, I’m suing myself, right? So I don’t know. But that was a very strong, very powerful lawsuit.”
Charging
The New York Times reported this week that Trump’s comments were a reference to his claims against the government over the two investigations, and that the total claim was for $230 million. Trump’s $100 million claim for the Mar-a-Lago search had been publicly reported.
Under the Tort Claims Act, people who want to sue the federal government for damages must first file an administrative complaint with the federal government. Trump, who alleged wrongdoing by the FBI, filed his complaint with the Justice Department.
The claims process is typically not made public. But Trump indicated in his public statements that the Justice Department had not resolved the claims with him.
During the Biden administration, the Justice Department under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland did not resolve or close the two claims, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. It’s unclear why the department didn’t respond to or close the 2023 complaint related to the Russia investigation, but federal regulations do not require the government to respond to complaints, and it’s not unusual for officials to sit on them for a long time.
The claim related to the Mar-a-Lago search would have been more difficult for the Justice Department to resolve, since the federal case against Trump was only dismissed in the final days of the Biden administration. The Justice Department does not typically resolve claims related to ongoing cases.
A settlement on an administrative claim for more than $100 million would be much larger than usual. According to the Department of Justice manual, settlement agreements must be signed by the deputy attorney general or the associate attorney general.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the status of any negotiations, but when asked about possible recusals by Blanche and Woodward said that “all Justice Department officials follow the guidance of professional ethics officials.”
Washington Post
