Two top House Democrats sent a letter to President Donald Trump warning him that his effort to order the Department of Justice to pay him $230 million in taxpayer funds as compensation for its investigations into him during the Biden administration is both unconstitutional and illegal.
The letter from Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, notes that the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause prohibits the president from receiving any additional payment above his salary from the federal government and that the Federal Tort Claims Act further prohibits the payment of damages that Trump seeks.
“In remarks to the press this week, you described a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional effort to steal $230 million from the American people,” the letter states. “Your plan to have your obedient underlings at the Department of Justice (DOJ) instruct the U.S. Treasury to pay you, personally, hundreds of millions of dollars — especially at a time when most Americans are struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and afford health care — is an outrageous and shocking attempt to shake down the American people.”
