Two high Home Democrats despatched a letter to President Donald Trump warning him that his effort to order the Division of Justice to pay him $230 million in taxpayer funds as compensation for its investigations into him in the course of the Biden administration is each unconstitutional and unlawful.
The letter from Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the highest Democrat on the Home Judiciary Committee, and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee, notes that the Structure’s Home Emoluments Clause prohibits the president from receiving any further fee above his wage from the federal authorities and that the Federal Tort Claims Act additional prohibits the fee of damages that Trump seeks.
“In remarks to the press this week, you described a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional effort to steal $230 million from the American people,” the letter states. “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.”
Jim Lo Scalzo/Bloomberg through Getty Photos
Trump has filed administrative complaints with the Division of Justice alleging that his rights had been violated by DOJ investigations into his unlawful retention of categorized paperwork and the position Russia performed within the 2016 election. The $230 million in damages he’s in search of would wish to first be authorised by Deputy Lawyer Normal Todd Blanche and Civil Division head Stanley Woodward Jr. earlier than doubtless needing Trump’s final approval. Blanche beforehand served as Trump’s private lawyer throughout these investigations, whereas Woodward served as counsel for Trump aide Walt Nauta within the categorized paperwork case. The battle of curiosity is so apparent that even Trump has commented on it.
“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said, ‘I’m sort of suing myself,’” Trump mentioned within the Oval Workplace on Oct. 15. “I don’t know, how do you settle the lawsuit? I’ll say, ‘Give me X dollars, right?’ And I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit. It’s a great lawsuit. And now I won, it sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?”
Raskin and Garcia agree that it seems unhealthy.
“If either of your claims had any merit, you could have taken them to court by now and litigated them publicly. You did not do that,” their letter states. “Instead, you waited until you became President and installed your handpicked loyalists at DOJ, knowing that you could instruct them to co-sign your demand notes in secret behind closed doors, and then you could present the notes to the U.S. Treasury for cold hard cash courtesy of the American taxpayer. That isn’t justice, it is theft.”
The letter goes on to demand the White Home hand over a litany of details about Trump’s “ongoing conspiracy” to raid the U.S. Treasury for his personal profit. This consists of all related correspondence with DOJ officers, together with Blanche, all DOJ memoranda or different authorized opinions associated to the case and all supplies figuring out who at DOJ is concerned in overseeing Trump’s pursuit of damages.
Whereas Democrats are at present within the minority within the Home, the letter from Raskin and Garcia signifies their intent to analyze this matter each now and to make use of the congressional subpoena energy if Democrats win management within the 2026 elections.
