总统唐纳德·特朗普据知情人士周二向美国广播公司(ABC)新闻证实，拜登正敦促司法部支付约2.3亿美元，作为他在拜登政府和第一任期内面临的调查的和解金。
最早由报道的特别安排《纽约时报》，可能首先需要该部门高级官员的签署，这些官员此前曾担任特朗普的辩护律师或以其他方式代表他的盟友。
和解谈判源于特朗普的律师在2023年和2024年离任时提交的两项独立的行政诉讼。一个人寻求对他和他周围的人面临的调查的损害赔偿，他的2016年竞选活动与俄罗斯政府.
第二项指控是去年公开报道的，是关于他被当时的特别律师恶意起诉的指控杰克·史密斯2022年8月，美国联邦调查局在他的Mar-a-Lago庄园搜查机密文件时，侵犯了他的隐私权。
特朗普上周与司法部长帕姆·邦迪(Pam Bondi)、美国联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔(Kash Patel)和司法部副部长托德·布兰奇(Todd Blanche)一起出现在椭圆形办公室时，特朗普似乎暗示了谈判以及司法部向现任总统支付和解金的不寻常性质。
“我有一场官司打得很好，当我成为总统时，我说，‘我有点像在起诉我自己。’我不知道，你如何解决诉讼，我会说给我X美元，我不知道如何处理诉讼，”特朗普说。看起来有点糟糕，我在起诉我自己，对吗?"
根据司法手册，任何和解都必须得到副检察长或助理检察长的签字同意。
布兰奇在机密文件案和史密斯1月6日提起的案件中代表特朗普，助理司法部长斯坦·伍德沃德(Stan Woodward)代表特朗普在机密文件案中的共同被告沃尔特·诺塔(Walt Nauta)。
特朗普之前在这两起案件中都不认罪两个都被撤销了特朗普连任后，由于司法部的长期政策禁止起诉在任总统。
特朗普周二在椭圆形办公室被记者问及《纽约时报》的报道时，谈到司法部时说，“我甚至没有和他们谈过这件事——我只知道他们会欠我很多钱，但我没有，我不是在找钱。我会把它捐给慈善机构什么的。”
“这很有趣，因为我是做决定的人，对吗?”特朗普说。“你知道，这个决定必须经过我的办公桌，在我自己支付工资的情况下做出决定，这太奇怪了。换句话说，你有没有遇到过这样的情况，你不得不决定自己要支付多少赔偿金?但是我受到了很大的伤害，我得到的任何钱都会捐给慈善机构。”
当被问及Blanche或Woodward是否会被视为签署此类和解协议时，DOJ的一位发言人告诉ABC新闻，“在任何情况下，司法部的所有官员都遵循职业道德官员的指导。”
该部门拒绝进一步评论谈判的状况。
Trump wants DOJ to pay him $230 million for previous investigations: Sources
PresidentDonald Trumpis pressing for his Justice Department to pay roughly $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and his first term in office, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Tuesday.
The extraordinary arrangement, as first reported byThe New York Times, would likely first need sign-off from top officials in the department who previously served as Trump's defense attorneys or otherwise represented his allies.
The settlement negotiations stem from two separate administrative claims that were submitted by attorneys for Trump while he was out of office in 2023 and 2024. One sought damages over the investigation he and those in his orbit faced surrounding ties his 2016 campaign had to theRussian government.
The second claim, which was previously reported publicly last year, related to accusations that he was prosecuted maliciously by then-special counselJack Smithand that his privacy rights were violated when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents in August of 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 a Justice Department paying out 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 sort of suing myself.' I don't know, how do you settle the lawsuit, I'll say give me X dollars, and I don't know what to do with the lawsuit," Trump said. "It sort of looks bad, I'm suing myself, right?"
According to the Justice Manual, any settlement would have to get sign-off from either 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 the associate attorney general, Stan Woodward, represented Walt Nauta, Trump's co-defendant in the classified documents case.
Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases beforeboth were droppedfollowing Trump's reelection, due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump, asked Tuesday by reporters in the Oval Office about the New York Times' story, said regarding the Justice Department, "I don't even talk to them about it -- all I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I don't, I'm not looking for money. I'd give it to charity or something."
"It's interesting, because I'm the one that makes a decision, right?" Trump said. "And you know that decision would have to go across my desk, and it's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself. In other words, did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you're paying yourself in damages? But I was damaged very greatly, and any money that I would get, I would give to charity."
Asked whether either Blanche or Woodward would be considered conflicted out of signing-off on such a settlement, a DOJ spokesperson told ABC News, "In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials."
The department declined to further comment on the status of the negotiations.
