President Trump is blatantly attempting to weasel his way into a $230 million payout from his own Justice Department. Unsurprisingly, the GOP couldn’t care less.
“How comfortable are you with the president apparently seeking $230 million from the Department of Justice?” a reporter asked House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, a day after the news broke. Johnson, of course, reverted back to his favorite response: ignorance.
“I don’t know the details about that, I’ve just read it, I didn’t talk with him about that,” Johnson replied. “I know that he believes he’s owed that reimbursement. What I heard yesterday was if he receives it, he was gonna consider giving it to charity, he doesn’t need those proceeds.”
How does Johnson know that Trump (known for being forced to shut down his own charity foundation after being caught using it for personal funds) might give the millions to charity if he just said seconds before that he didn’t know any details?
Q: How comfortable are you with the president seeking $230 million from the DOJ?MIKE JOHNSON: Uh, I don’t know the details about that. I just read it. I didn’t talk with him about that. I know he believes he’s owed that reimbursement. What I heard is that if receives it, he’s… pic.twitter.com/KuhZjzchTW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 22, 2025
“It’s absurd,” the speaker continued. “They attack him for everything he does.” He then quickly changed the subject to defend Trump’s bulldozing the White House’s East Wing to clear room for his upcoming ballroom.
Trump is essentially demanding that the DOJ pay him hundreds of millions of dollars for investigating his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia and his mishandling of classified documents after he left the presidency. This is an unprecedented, deeply questionable move.
“What a travesty,” ethics professor Bennett L. Gershman, told The New York Times. “The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.… And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses. It’s bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.”
This reimbursement, if successful, will likely have to be covered by the American taxpayer.
At least one GOP member, Thom Tillis, had the courage to speak out.
“It’s terrible optics, particularly right now,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. “We’re talking about a quarter of a billion dollars transferring, maybe to the president when we’re in a shutdown posture.”
But the majority of Republicans seem to be staying quiet.
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