Trump news at a glance: president’s effort to sue his own DoJ is ‘absurd’ and ‘frivolous’, expert says

The two justice department officials with power to sign off on the claims are Trump appointees and allies - key US politics stories from 29 October at a glance

What are the odds that the president can successfully sue his own government to recoup hundreds of millions in damages from past federal investigations? If he were any other claimant, it would be a long shot, according to a legal expert and a former Department of Justice official who handled damages claims against the government.

Trump has asked the justice department to pay him $230m in damages, the New York Times reported last week. The amount is the total of two separate claims in which Trump argues he is entitled to compensation because of investigations into the links between Russia and his 2016 campaign as well as the 2022 search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and subsequent criminal prosecution.