President Donald Trump vowed to "do something nice" if the Department of Justice agreed to demands that he be paid for purported violations of his rights during investigations into Russian election interference and classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
After The New York Times reported that Trump was demanding that his Justice Department pay him $230 million in a settlement, the president was asked about the claim at the White House on Tuesday.
"Are you asking them to pay you compensation for the federal investigations that happened to you?" one reporter asked. "And how much are you asking for?"
"Well, I guess they probably owe me a lot of money for that," Trump replied. "Probably, yeah, that's true. That's very interesting. No, I get no salary. I gave up my salary. It's a good salary."
"But if I get money from our country, I'll do something nice with it, like give it to charity or give it to the White House, where we restore the White House. And we're doing a great job in the White House. As you know, the ballroom is under construction."
Trump said that he was concerned about "numerous cases" that the DOJ brought against him.
"But it's not handled in a proper way," he insisted. "We don't want it to happen again. We can never let what happened in the 2020 election happen again."
Trump later claimed that he didn't know "what the numbers are."
"All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money," he remarked. "I would give it to charity. But look, they rigged the election."
"With the country, it's interesting. Because I'm the one that makes the decision, right? And that decision would have to go across my desk. It's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself."
