"Donald Trump is a skilled extortionist. Since winning the 2024 presidential election, he has secured $16 million from Paramount to settle a baseless lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris; pocketed another $16 million from ABC after suing the company for defamation; and scooped up almost $60 million combined from the tech giants Meta, Alphabet, and X to resolve lawsuits over his social-media bans following the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Now he is extorting a new target: the federal government itself."
"Trump is not, in the immediate instance, "the one that makes the decision." That will be up to Justice Department leadership-specifically, under DOJ's procedures, the department's No. 2 or No. 3, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche or Associate Attorney General Stan Woodward. Blanche led Trump's criminal defense against the prosecutions for which Trump is now demanding payment. Woodward has represented a number of Trump aides, including Trump's co-defendant in the Mar-a-Lago case, Walt Nauta, and the current FBI director, Kash Patel."
Donald Trump has previously obtained tens of millions of dollars through settlements with media companies and tech firms tied to defamation suits and social-media bans. He has filed paperwork claiming approximately $230 million from the Justice Department as compensation for federal investigations into his role in the January 6 insurrection and the improper retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. DOJ procedures assign the decision to senior leadership, specifically the Deputy Attorney General or Associate Attorney General. Both potential decisionmakers have prior professional ties to Trump or his aides, including representation of defendants and allies connected to those cases.
Read at The Atlantic
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