Florida man wants taxpayers to give him $230 million. And since he's president, could he get away with it?

News and commentary for thoughtful Floridians

Florida’s own Donald J. Trump is demanding the Department of Justice pay him $230 million because it had the temerity to indict him for, among other things, hiding classified documents in his Palm Beach bathroom.

The various criminal prosecutions of Trump came to a screeching halt after his re-election, since it is federal policy not to jail sitting presidents. This, even though Special Counsel Jack Smith has said he had “tons of evidence” that the twice-impeached Trump had illegally retained classified documents.

(And let’s not overlook that the DOJ, overseen by Trump’s personal lackey, former Florida attorney general and current U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, just indicted his former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, for doing virtually the same things. But what’s a little hypocrisy among frenemies?)

Trump had actually filed at least two such demands for money prior to his inauguration, according to news reports, part of a procedure that can lead to lawsuits against the government. The claims involve the investigation into Russian interference in his first election and alleged rights violations when his residence at Mar-a-Lago was searched by the FBI, where classified documents were discovered.

He alluded to those claims last week, according to a report in The New York Times:

“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. It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right? So I don’t know. But that was a lawsuit that was very strong, very powerful.”

Not all that powerful.

Among other things, were the adjudication process on the level and played out in court, it would open a nightmarish Pandora’s box in which the government could try to rehash all the evidence it had compiled against him.

That, of course, will never happen.

Because the decision on whether to settle those claims before they ever come to trial will fall to Bondi’s department, and she has made it clear that she has one response — and one response only — to any Trump demands. And that is:

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Although it’s telling that Trump thinks that suing the U.S. government is the same thing as suing himself. It raises several disturbing questions including:

• Does he actually see himself as the living embodiment of America? It sounds like it when he says suing the United States would be the same as suing himself. That’s the kind of behavior you get from a monarch, right?

• Does he think that the money in the federal treasury belongs to him? That taking money from the government would be the same as raiding his own bank account? Sounds like it.

• Does he worry that this puts his loyal minion, Bondi, in difficult position?

Actually, Bondi has a smidgen of cover, The Times reports:

According to the Justice Department manual, settlements of claims against the department for more than $4 million “must be approved by the deputy attorney general or associate attorney general,” meaning the person who oversees the agency’s civil division.

The current deputy attorney general, (Todd) Blanche, served as Mr. Trump’s lead criminal defense lawyer and said at his confirmation hearing in February that his attorney-client relationship with the president continued. The chief of the department’s civil division, Stanley Woodward Jr., represented Mr. Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the classified documents case. Mr. Woodward has also represented a number of other Trump aides, including (FBI Director Kash) Patel, in investigations related to Mr. Trump or the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

So, while DOJ procedures may let Bondi pass the buck to one of her subordinates, they are all conflicted like crazy.

Will that matter? Or will this be yet another shameless grift? I guess we’ll see.

What do you think? Share your views by clicking on the COMMENTS link at the end of this newsletter. Thanks!

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Speaking of White House madness

A reporter — HuffPost’s S.V. Date—asked 27-year-old presidential press secretary Karoline Leavitt a question about a proposed meeting site between Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin—a meeting that has since been scrubbed. Her response has gone viral. Every day, Trump’s presidency gets weirder and weirder. Here’s the text message exchange that Leavitt actually posted on social media.

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Tropical Outlook

Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a hurricane this weekend. Its path, strength, and whether it will be a threat to Florida are all up in the air right now (no pun intended). As you can see from the spaghetti map below, it’s simply too soon to tell, as computer models are wildly inconsistent. So, we will keep monitoring the storm.

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Today is …

Smart is Cool Day. As I asked in my recent Florida Weekly column: Is there any person alive we can all agree on who epitomizes smarts and cool, someone with unassailable talent and suave? The answer is yes. Ringo Starr, of course, the world’s greatest living musician and writer of unquestionably the most singable song ever: “Yellow Submarine.” You heard it here first.

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More online

Thank you for reading the Tropic Press newsletter. You also have access to the Tropic Press website for additional and previous posts, copies of the Monthly Memo, an archive of posts from our advice columnist, Miss Mingo, occasional guest commentaries, and information about The Strange Files series of mysterious adventures and other books.

J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida. Forward this email to your friends. They will love you for it.

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Today’s report is brought to you by Tropic Press Books, home of The Strange Files. Interested in sponsoring these reports? Contact: Advertising@Tropic.Press

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