Trump wants the Justice Department to pay him $230 million for previous investigations: sources

President Donald Trump is pushing for his Justice Department to pay approximately $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and his first term, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday.

The extraordinary agreement, as first reported The New York TimesHe would likely first need approval from senior department officials who previously served as Trump’s defense attorneys or represented his allies.

The settlement talks arise from two separate administrative claims that were filed by Trump’s lawyers while he was out of office in 2023 and 2024. One sought compensation for the investigation he and those in his orbit faced over ties his 2016 campaign had to the Russian government.

The second claim, which was publicly reported last year, related to allegations that he was maliciously prosecuted by then-special prosecutor Jack Smith and that his privacy rights were violated when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents in August 2022.

In an appearance in the Oval Office last week with Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump appeared to allude to the negotiations and the unusual nature of the Justice Department paying a settlement to the current sitting president.

“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president I said, ‘I’m suing myself.’ I don’t know how the lawsuit is resolved. I’ll say give me X dollars and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit,” Trump said. “It looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?”

According to the Justice Manual, any agreement would have to be approved by the deputy attorney general or the associate attorney general.

Blanche represented Trump in both the classified documents case and the Jan. 6 case brought by Smith, and Associate Attorney General Stan Woodward represented Walt Nauta, Trump’s co-defendant in the classified documents case.

Trump previously pleaded not guilty in both cases both were fallen following Trump’s re-election, due to a long-standing Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

Trump, asked by reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday about the New York Times story, said of the Justice Department: “I don’t even talk to them about it; all I know is that they owe me a lot of money, but I don’t, I’m not looking for money. I would give it to a charity or something.”

“It’s interesting, because I’m the one making the decision, right?” Trump said. “And you know that decision would have to come across my desk, and it’s tremendously strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself. In other words, have you ever had one of those cases where you have to decide how much you’re paying yourself in damages? But I suffered a lot of damage, and any money I got, I would donate to charity.”

When asked whether Blanche or Woodward would be considered conflicted in approving such an agreement, a Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News: “Under any circumstances, all Justice Department officials follow the guidance of professional ethics officials.”

The department declined to comment further on the status of negotiations.