Trump Confronted Over Report He’s Demanding His Own DOJ Pay Him $230 Million: ‘They Probably Owe Me a Lot of Money’

President Donald Trump defended his reported attempt to wrest $230 million from taxpayers when confronted by a journalist.

On Tuesday, The New York Times cited several anonymous sources familiar with the matter who said the president is seeking the eye-popping amount from the Department of Justice over its investigations into him.

During the Biden administration, under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, Trump was prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith in two separate cases. Grand juries indicted the then-former president for retaining classified documents after leaving office and for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty on all counts, which were dropped after he won the 2024 election.

In another claim, Trump is seeking damages over the DOJ’s investigation into possible ties between his 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

The president took questions from the press in the Oval Office on Tuesday, where he was asked about the report.

“Are you asking the Justice Department to pay you compensation–”

“Whose compensation?” Trump interrupted.

“–for the federal investigations into you?” she continued. “Are you asking them to pay compensation, and how much?”

“I don’t get any compensation,” Trump said. “I do it for nothing. I gave up my salary.”

The president seemed either confused or taken aback and asked, “Into me?”

The reporter repeated her question. Trump responded:

Well, I guess they probably owe me a lot of money for that, probably. That’s true. That’s very interesting. No, I get no salary. I gave up my salary. It’s a good salary, not as much as these guys make, but that’s ok. It’s a lot of money. And as you know, I did not take it in the first four years. I’ve not taken it in these four years either.

But as far as all of the litigation, everything, yeah, they probably owe me a lot of money. But if I get money from our country, I’ll do something nice with it like to give it to charity or give it to the White ouse, where we restore the White House. And we’re doing a good job. As you know, the ballroom is under construction.

Trump’s “ballroom” comment was a reference to his $250 million reconstruction of the East Wing of the White House, where demolition began on Monday.

The president went on to claim, “I’m not looking for money,” and repeated his baseless allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Watch above via C-SPAN.