🇺🇸President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.
The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department. ⚖️
Mr. Trump submitted complaints through an administrative claim process that often is the precursor to lawsuits. The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.
The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.
#Trump#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
Ketamine, Prostitution and Money: Details of a Secret DEA Probe of Jeffrey Epstein
A Department of Justice document combined with interviews reveal that a long-running investigation into organized crime led law enforcement to suspect the serial sex abuser of money laundering, distributing ‘club drugs’ and operating a prostitution ring.
#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed that 29 friends of Jeffrey Epstein were shielded through 'secret settlements' by the Justice Department.
The disgraced socialite filed a habeas corpus petition on December 17 seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing that prosecutors cut deals with Epstein associates while prosecuting her as if no such agreements existed.
Maxwell alleges that 25 men reached undisclosed deals, while four alleged co-conspirators were known to investigators but never charged. She does not name the individuals.
#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
The Department of Justice apparently found Santa's gifts ahead of schedule and announced the discovery by the New York office of about a million documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
They promise to publish it within a few weeks. So far, the Ministry of Justice has published only about 130,000 files from the Epstein case, and this is only a fraction of what is at the disposal of the prosecutor's office.
At the same time, a law passed by Congress required the Ministry of Justice to publish all files by December 19.
#DOJ#Epstein
👂More on Trump's Ear
Officials at the Bureau of Prisons have instituted a unique system for keeping absolutely every detail about Ghislaine Maxwell secret, a federal prison consultant revealed on the Daily Beast Podcast.👮♂️🚓
Maxwell was moved to a cushier jail after an order came from “well above their heads,” follwing a visit from Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche, who is now the No. 2 at the Department of Justice.
The notorious partner in crime of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was quietly transferred in August from a Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida, to a Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, that is known for its comforts relative to other jails.
Sam Mangel, a former inmate turned prison consultant for high-profile names like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, explained that the BOP is now working overtime to keep every detail about Maxwell out of the news.
#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. 📋📌 The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public. 🕵️♂️
The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008. 📰
As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted. 🚓
The payments became public after Epstein was indicted and arrested in New York in 2019 and asked to be released on bail. Federal prosecutors in New York filed a memorandum on July 16, 2019, that argued Epstein should remain in jail to prevent him from tampering with witnesses. 🛂
They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, which began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing its stories on Epstein’s plea deal, also known as a nonprosecution agreement, or NPA. 📃
Prosecutors wrote that on Nov. 30, 2018, Epstein “wired $100,000 from a trust account he controlled, to an individual named as [REDACTED] a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein obtained protection in — the NPA.”
Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also named and featured prominently in the Herald series.”
#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein told NBC News Tuesday that they are taking matters into their own hands and will compile their own “client list” as frustration mounts over the Justice Department’s failure to release unredacted records from the notorious pedophile’s network 🎯.
Six survivors told NBC News in an exclusive sit-down that they have begun compiling their own lists of powerful figures linked to Epstein, accusing federal authorities of dragging their feet following outright denials in July from the Trump administration that a fabled blackmail list of the disgraced financier’s “clients” even exists 🔍.
“I’m coming here because there’s been a severe miscarriage of justice, a delay in accountability,” said Jess Michaels, one of the women speaking out 🗣.
#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
Top federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned after the Department of Justice pushed to investigate the widow of Renee Good and rebuffed an investigation into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot her last week.
Veteran prosecutor Joseph Thompson, who was previously appointed by Donald Trump to serve as Minnesota’s acting U.S. attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney, had overseen a sprawling fraud investigation at the center of the president’s surge of federal law enforcement officers in the state.
Thompson is among at least four career prosecutors who quit Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Melinda Williams, Harry Jacobs, and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez also reportedly resigned.
#ICE#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
The Justice Department has published FBI interviews with a woman who alleged Donald Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager after she was introduced to him by Jeffrey Epstein.
The woman told agents Trump hit her after she bit his penis when he attempted to force her to perform oral
#Trump#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️
The Department of Justice was forced into a U-turn on its release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein after a photo of President Donald Trump was temporarily removed from the files.
The missing photo depicted Trump alongside his wife Melania, Epstein, and the sexual offender's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell. It was taken in February 2000 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and was one of the few photos in which the president appeared in the documents as federal agents raided Epstein's New York City townhouse.
#Trump#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear
The acting deputy chief of a Justice Department unit said on hidden camera that the government will "redact every Republican" from an Epstein client list. He later admitted he was basing his comments on media reports 📺.
Why it matters: The O'Keefe Media Group, a far-right media organization, secretly recorded Joseph Schnitt's comments and published them on Thursday 🔍.
In a statement addressed to the DOJ's acting director, Schnitt said he had no idea he was being recorded on video and that he met the O'Keefe reporter — who he said was pretending to be an au pair — on the dating app Hinge 🖥.
Schnitt said: "The comments I made were my own personal comments on what l've learned in the media and not from anything I've done at or learned via work." 🗣
The intrigue: James O'Keefe, the founder of O'Keefe Media Group, is also behind the far-right Veritas Project, which is known for recording undercover videos of Democrats 🎬.
Schnitt did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment 📞.
Driving the news: Schnitt also made comments in the video about the DOJ's relationship with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was recently moved to a lower-security prison following her interview with a Justice Department official 🔐.
Schnitt said in his letter that he has "no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Maxwell other than what is reported in the news." 📌
The other side: The Justice Department directed Axios to its statement on X, where it denounced the comments made in O'Keefe's video 📃.
The "comments in this video have absolutely zero bearing with reality and reflect a total lack of knowledge of the DOJ's review process," the department's public affairs account said.
The DOJ told Axios this statement refers to "all comments in the video," but would not confirm whether they were referring to both O'Keefe's and Schnitt's words 🗣.
Catch up quick: The House Oversight Committee released over 33,000 documents on Tuesday related to Epstein that the Justice Department shared with the panel following months of pressure to make the files public 📄.
In the video, O'Keefe questions the Justice Department's level of transparency, pointing out that the DOJ and FBI claim their investigation into Epstein revealed "no incriminating 'client list'" despite top FBI officials' previous assertions to the contrary 🕵️♂️.
"The DOJ is committed to transparency and is in compliance with the House Oversight Committee's request for documents," the department said.
#Trump#Epstein#DOJ
👂More on Trump's Ear ⚠️