Former Trump campaign adviser rips talk of $230M DOJ settlement
A former senior adviser to President Trump during his 2016 White House bid on Tuesday questioned Trump’s push to receive a $230 million settlement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The president’s lawyers have reportedly demanded compensation for past investigations into his handling of classified documents resulting in a 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla., and a probe regarding his alleged support of Russia’s election interference in 2016. The New York Times was the first to report the settlement details.
“If the president wants to get an apology from the Department of Justice, or from somebody for doing him wrong — one thing. For John Q. Public to come out of their checkbook to pay him money, it’s not like Donald Trump’s brand has been hurt by that, right?” David Urban, a former Trump adviser, said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Arena.”
“If you go around the world and look at the Trump developments, and the Trump properties, and how profitable the Trump Organization is today, I don’t think it was harmed by any of that,” Urban added.
In earlier comments, he told viewers that many of the cases previously brought against the president were “egregious” but said an apology should rectify the wrongdoing, not “taxpayer dollars.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal attorney in his criminal cases, is one of two people who could determine whether the president could receive millions in compensation for past investigations, according to the Times report.
Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said in a statement that officials “follow the guidance of career ethics officials.”
However, the department’s top ethics adviser was fired in July.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that his rights were violated during both probes.
On Tuesday, the president told reporters he’s unaware of the exact amount his lawyers are requesting in the settlement but said he deserves financial recompense.
“I don’t know the numbers, I don’t even talk to them about it. All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money. I would give it to charity or something,” Trump said.
“Now with the country, it’s interesting because I’m the one that makes the decision. And that decision would have to go across my desk,” he added. “And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I am paying myself. Did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you are paying yourself in damages? But I was damaged greatly, and any money I would get I would give to charity.”