Democrats investigate what they call 'blatantly illegal' proposed DOJ payout to Trump
Source: Spectrum News 1 Greensboro, NC
PUBLISHED 3:30 PM ET Oct. 23, 2025
WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress launched an investigation into what they described as a “blatantly illegal and unconstitutional" scheme by President Donald Trump to secure a financial payout from the Justice Department — potentially north of $200 million — over the criminal prosecution into his handling of classified documents after leaving office in 2021 and the probe into his 2016 campaign's potential Russian connections.
The classified document prosecution, handled by an independent special counsel alongside another federal prosecution over Trump's bid to stay in power after his 2020 election loss, ended last year after he won reelection and following a Supreme Court decision that largely solidified presidents’ immunity from criminal charges while in office.
“Your plan to have your obedient underlings at the Department of Justice (DOJ) instruct the U.S. Treasury to pay you, personally, hundreds of millions of dollars—especially at a time when most Americans are struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and afford health care—is an outrageous and shocking attempt to shake down the American people,” wrote Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and California Rep. Robert Garcia — the top Democrats on the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees, respectively — wrote in a letter to the president on Thursday.
According to the Justice Department’s rules, a settlement greater than $4 million in this kind of procedure “must be approved by the Deputy Attorney General, or Associate Attorney General” overseeing the DOJ’s civil division. Presently, the deputy attorney general is Todd Blanche — Trump’s former personal defense attorney who represented him in his New York City criminal case that ultimately resulted in Trump's conviction on 34 felonies. And the head of the Justice Department’s civil division is Stanley Woodward Jr., who represented Will Nauta, the president’s longtime aide and co-defendant in the classified documents case.
Read more: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triad/politics/2025/10/23/trump-lawsuits-federal-investigations
Link to PRESS RELEASE - Ranking Members Raskin, Garcia Launch Investigation Into Trump’s “Blatantly Illegal” Plan to Steal $230 Million from U.S. Taxpayers
Link to LETTER (inquiry) (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-10-23.raskin-garcia-to-trump-wh-re-doj-payment-demand.pdf