CNN’s David Urban criticizes Donald Trump’s reported demand for DOJ to pay him $230 million
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From the October 21, 2025, edition of CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
DAVID URBAN (GUEST): Most of those cases that are brought against the president are just egregious, right? The Letitia James case, the Alvin Bragg case, I was, you know, a part of the 2016 campaign firsthand and had to suffer through the James Comey Russiagate, watching my friends get dragged before grand juries so I can understand some of what the president wants. But to Lula’s point, exactly, this is taxpayer dollars, right? If the president wants to get an apology from the Department of Justice or from somebody for doing him wrong, one thing.
For John Q. Public to come out of their checkbook to pay him money -- it’s not like Donald Trump’s brand has been hurt by that, right? If you go around the world and look at these Trump developments, the Trump properties and how profitable the Trump organization is today, I don’t think it was harmed by any of that. I mean, he may be personally aggrieved and deserved an apology from some of these folks, but I think taxpayers paying that is -- it’s probably not something that you want to see.