"Almost Too Outlandish To Believe" -- Digby

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2025/10/21/almost-too-outlandish-to-believe/

The very meaning of chutzpah

You couldn’t make this up: NYTimes

President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.

The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.

Mr. Trump submitted complaints through an administrative claim process that often is the precursor to lawsuits. The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the claim has not been made public.

The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.

Lawyers said the nature of the claims posed undeniable ethics challenges.

“What a travesty,” said Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University. “The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.”

He added: “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.”

Trump knows the optics are bad — he said that it looks like he’s suing himself, hahaha — but why should he care?

The Justice Department does not specifically require a public announcement of settlements made for administrative claims before they become lawsuits. If or when the Trump administration pays the president what could be hundreds of millions of dollars, there may be no immediate official declaration that it did so, according to current and former department officials.

Nothing is too bizarre and outlandish to believe. Nothing.

Update: Trump said today that if he gets it he’ll give the money to something nice. So that’s just fine. Never mind.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. "Something nice."

A golden statue of himself on the White House lawn. That’s about his speed.

[erronis]

2. This whole thing is a parody, right? Please tell me that it isn't real.

[Diamond_Dog]

3. I wish we could wake up from this nightmare!