The $230 million in compensation President Donald Trump is demanding from his own Justice Department could be paid to him in secret, a senior Democratic lawmaker has warned.
Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, who is investigating the matter as ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told The New Republic that his staff’s research suggests a payout could be kept confidential initially, with Trump’s former lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, among the people deciding its legitimacy. Trump is seeking the money to compensate him for the federal investigations into him, according to the New York Times.
Ethics experts and lawmakers point to a line of laws and conflicts of interest that could derail the compensation bid, but may not.
“Our reading is that, even though this is a private settlement, it doesn’t have to be disclosed anywhere until there is an accounting of where all the money has gone at the end of the year,” Raskin told the New Republic.
A spokesperson for House Judiciary Committee Democrats told the outlet that’s because Trump is pursuing the payments through an internal DOJ claims process which is usually confidential. While the payments would eventually be made public in a report to Congress, the transaction could take place long before the Justice Department publicly discloses it.
Dan Weiner, of NYU’s Brennan Center, also told The New Republic: “I’m not aware of any reason this would automatically be made public at the time it happened.”
Raskin added that he will request “the entire paper trail” between the White House and DOJ. “If we had subpoena power, we would be going after that,” he said.
Trump, 79, has filed administrative claims seeking “damages” tied to the 2016 Russia probe and a 2024 search of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home.
He has argued he was “damaged very greatly” by the investigations and claimed he would donate any money to charity or use it to fund the new ballroom under construction at the White House.
Highlighting a significant potential conflict of interest in the process, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the decision would go “across my desk,” before admitting, “It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
Ethics concerns center on Blanche, 51—Trump’s former defense lawyer—who would be among officials weighing the claim under Attorney General Pam Bondi, 59.
“It goes without saying that anybody in the Trump administration who violates the law is now expecting a pardon from Donald Trump,” Raskin told The New Republic. “If you want the protection of the president, you need to comply with his every wish.”
Raskin also cited constitutional issues, pointing to the Domestic Emoluments Clause. This bars a sitting president from getting any payment or benefit from the U.S. or any state beyond his fixed salary. “This means he cannot be ordering government officials to write checks to the president,” Raskin said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.
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