More than a dozen House Democrats sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that it reject President Trump’s request for a $230 million payment.
Mr. Trump is pressing the Justice Department for about $230 million as a settlement for investigations he faced during the Biden administration and his first term in office. The president told reporters last week that the federal government owes him “a lot of money” for the investigations into his conduct.
Led by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, ranking member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 19 Democrats signed the letter, calling Mr. Trump’s demands “flagrantly unconstitutional.” It was sent to three senior officials at the Justice Department, including Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The lawmakers pressed the Justice Department to produce all documents and communications related to Mr. Trump’s administrative claims, including internal assessments of their legality and any ethical or constitutional concerns made by department officials.
“As the senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who would be responsible for approving that shakedown, you each face a choice: uphold your constitutional oath and refuse this flagrantly illegal demand, or become complicit in perhaps the most brazen violation of the Constitution’s anti-corruption provisions in American history,” the Democrats wrote.
If a settlement is approved, it would be paid by U.S. taxpayers. Mr. Trump suggested he could donate any taxpayer money to charity or use it to help pay for his East Wing ballroom project.
DOCUMENT: Letter from Democrats to the Justice Department
This comes as Mr. Raskin and Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight committee, sent a letter to the president requesting that he provide documents and information to their committees.
Two individuals addressed in the most recent letter, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, previously served on Trump’s criminal defense team, relating to Mr. Trump’s settlement of previous investigations.
Mr. Blanche is Mr. Trump’s former defense attorney, and Mr. Woodward represented Mr. Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case.
The letter claims that because the Justice Department officials took an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” by agreeing to Mr. Trump’s demands, they would be aiding and abetting an “unconstitutional and unlawful scheme” to use taxpayer funds to pay the president.
They call Mr. Trump’s demand “legally baseless,” adding that his former lawyers are in an ethical conflict.
They say the situation violates the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause, which bars the president from receiving any payment from the federal government beyond his fixed annual salary.
The members say that “the Framers feared that future Presidents might be tempted to use their control over the executive branch to enrich themselves at public expense.”
Several litigants previously alleged that Mr. Trump’s retention of certain business and financial interests violated the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, but the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed these cases.
The letter also claims that Mr. Trump’s reported demand for $85 million in punitive damages is legally impossible under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which prohibits punitive damages.
The House Democrats gave the Justice Department a deadline of Nov. 3 to produce the requested documents and asked that the three officials personally respond to their questions.
