Trump’s Vile New $230 Million Shakedown of DOJ Just Got Even Worse

In an interview, Representative Jamie Raskin—who is investigating this as ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee—said his staff’s research indicates that these payments can probably be made confidentially at first, with no immediate public disclosure.

“Our reading is that, even though this is a private settlement, it doesn’t have to be disclosed anywhere until there is an accounting of where all the money has gone at the end of the year,” Raskin told me.

This is because Trump is seeking these payments via an internal DOJ administrative claims process, a spokesperson for House Judiciary Committee Democrats says, which is typically confidential. Though any payments would come out eventually in a later report to Congress, a payment could be made confidentially well before DOJ makes a public disclosure.