2026-04-14T09:36:23-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-meadows-reimbursement-justice-department-legal-fees-trump-probe/
据直接了解该请求的消息人士透露，前白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯正要求司法部为他在多项针对特朗普总统的联邦和州级调查中产生的法律费用报销。
这一请求提出之际，司法部同时正在处理特朗普本人提出的各类赔偿申请，以及多名获赦免的1月6日国会山骚乱参与者提出的损害赔偿主张，他们声称自己在国会警察手中遭受了伤害。
特朗普和他的两个儿子今年早些时候起诉美国国税局，要求其就特朗普税单泄露事件赔偿100亿美元，而他的律师还另外通过两项行政索赔向司法部索要2.3亿美元。2024年，美国国税局承包商查尔斯·利特尔约翰因在2020年向《纽约时报》泄露特朗普及其长子以及特朗普集团的联邦税务记录，被判处五年监禁。
梅多斯是特朗普在2020年大选败选后试图推翻选举结果的核心支持者。
他从未因特别检察官杰克·史密斯针对特朗普2020年大选干预案的起诉而受到指控，但在佐治亚州和亚利桑那州的并行州级案件中遭到刑事指控。
去年11月，特朗普赦免了梅多斯以及其他支持其推翻选举结果的人士。此后不久，佐治亚州的州检察官撤销了对梅多斯、特朗普等人的指控。
梅多斯在亚利桑那州仍面临法律不确定性，他因试图通过所谓“假选举人”手段改变2020年大选结果而被指控。
他的行为也遭到了调查2021年1月6日国会山骚乱的众议院委员会的严格审查。作为调查的一部分，梅多斯根据国会传票向议员们提供了短信和其他记录。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻无法立即确认梅多斯要求的金额，也无法确认司法部是否打算满足他的请求——该请求由他的律师乔治·特威利杰于2月初提出。
“司法部会根据具体情况，对因代表联邦政府履职行为而面临诉讼的现任和前任政府雇员提出的私人律师费用报销申请进行考量，”司法部发言人表示。
“司法部会根据其规章评估每一项申请，并在既定参数范围内提供报销。”
梅多斯的律师拒绝置评。梅多斯未回应置评请求。
联邦法规赋予司法部在特定情况下为现任或前任政府官员提供律师代理，或在他们因履职行为涉及刑事、民事或国会程序时，为其聘请私人代表的费用报销的权力。
司法部还有一项内部行政指令，规定了报销费率，通常远低于市场利率。
司法部在决定是否为现任或前任雇员报销法律费用时，通常会权衡多种因素。
从历史上看，如果雇员从一开始就没有提出报销申请，大多数申请都不会得到批准，但司法部有权酌情例外处理。其他考量因素包括该人是否在履行公职，以及是否符合美国的国家利益。
此前的多份美国司法部法律顾问办公室意见也列出了此类雇员可获得报销的一些更具体情形。
在2020年的一份意见中，法律顾问办公室认定，在特别检察官罗伯特·米勒针对俄罗斯干预2016年大选的调查中以证人身份接受询问的政府雇员，如果聘请了私人律师，有资格获得报销。
“因此，为这些证人报销律师费通常符合美国的国家利益，至少对于那些并非调查对象或目标的证人而言是如此，”该意见写道。
目前尚不清楚司法部可能如何将其规章及以往对这些规则的解释应用到梅多斯的案件中。
根据法庭文件，梅多斯另外还根据佐治亚州的一项州法律寻求报销该州案件的法律费用，该法律允许在检察官因不当行为被取消资格的情况下，被告提出此类申请。
根据这些文件，他向格里芬·达勒姆律师事务所支付了超过56.9万美元的该案件代理费用，并且还直接承担了尚未支付或未结算的额外专业费用，总额略高于1.9万美元。
另一份由特威利杰签署的宣誓书显示，麦圭尔伍德律师事务所的律师也向梅多斯收取了近130万美元的费用，其中梅多斯已支付近65万美元。
文件显示，特威利杰离开该律所后继续代理梅多斯处理佐治亚州案件及其他相关事项，包括史密斯的调查，2024年他向梅多斯收取每月2万美元的固定费用，2025年则降至每月1.2万美元。
梅多斯还向保罗·克莱门特支付了20万美元的固定费用，这位知名的前司法部上诉律师曾代表梅多斯，就将州级案件移交联邦法院审理一事提起诉讼。
法庭文件未详细说明梅多斯如何为其辩护付费，但Notus网站此前的报道显示，他的部分账单可能由“人事政策运营”组织支付，该非营利组织由梅多斯的雇主保守派合作研究所设立。
2024年，一个名为Accountable.U.S.的进步组织要求华盛顿特区总检察长办公室调查这种支付部分账单的安排是否违反了非营利组织的美国国税局规则。
哥伦比亚广播公司无法立即确认该调查请求的进展情况。
预计在佐治亚州就该事项作出裁定之前，司法部不会考虑报销梅多斯在该州案件中产生的费用。消息人士称，之后他可能会提请司法部支付剩余费用。
根据法庭文件，梅多斯是佐治亚州案件中寻求总计超过1700万美元法律费用报销的众多被告之一。
这些申请的结果仍不明朗，因为该州的费用报销法律直到2025年5月才生效，而该案于2023年提起公诉。
该县的律师辩称，被告的申请违反了佐治亚州宪法，因为他们寻求追溯性赔偿。
佐治亚州上诉法院目前正在考虑是否受理此案。
尽管这起案件在州法院公开审理，但司法部就此事作出的决定不太可能对外公开。
与可通过公开记录申请获取的司法部内部侵权和解金不同，关于是否提供律师代理或报销律师费的决定被视为保密信息——尽管这些费用由纳税人承担。
贾里德·埃格尔斯顿为本报道撰稿。
Ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows seeks reimbursement from DOJ for legal fees incurred in Trump-related probes
2026-04-14T09:36:23-0400 / https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mark-meadows-reimbursement-justice-department-legal-fees-trump-probe/
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is asking the Justice Department to reimburse him for legal fees he incurred in multiple federal and state investigations into President Trump, according to sources with direct knowledge of the request.
The request comes at the same time the Justice Department is also fielding a variety of different requests for payouts from Mr. Trump himself, as well as claims from a number of pardoned Jan. 6 rioters seeking damages for injuries they allege they suffered at the hands of Capitol Police.
Mr. Trump and his two sons sued the IRS earlier this year seeking $10 billion in connection with the leak of his tax returns, and his lawyers have separately sought $230 million from the Justice Department in two administrative claims. In 2024, an Internal Revenue Service contractor, Charles Littlejohn, was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking Mr. Trump’s federal tax records, as well as those of his oldest sons and the Trump Organization, to The New York Times in 2020.
Meadows was a key supporter of Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election after his loss to Joe Biden.
He was never charged in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against Mr. Trump over the 2020 election interference case, but he was criminally charged in parallel state cases in Georgia and Arizona.
In November, Mr. Trump pardoned Meadows and others who supported his bid to overturn the election. The state prosecutor in Georgia dropped the charges against Meadows, Mr. Trump and others shortly thereafter.
Meadows still faces legal uncertainty in Arizona, where he was charged for his role in trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election through the use of so-called fake electors.
His actions were also heavily scrutinized by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Mr. Trump’s supporters. As part of that probe, Meadows provided lawmakers with text messages and other records as part of a congressional subpoena.
CBS News could not immediately determine how much money Meadows is seeking or whether the Justice Department intends to honor his request, which was made by his attorney George Terwilliger in early February.
“On a case-by-case basis, the Department of Justice considers requests for private counsel reimbursement from current and former employees who face lawsuits that arise from their actions on behalf of the federal government,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.
“The Department assesses each request according to its regulations and provides reimbursement under established parameters.”
A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment. Meadows did not respond to a request for comment.
Federal regulations give the Justice Department authority in certain cases to provide counsel to current or former government officials, or to reimburse them for the costs of retaining private representation if they are involved in criminal, civil or congressional proceedings in connection with actions they took in the course of their official duties.
The department also has an internal administrative directive which lays out the rates at which it reimburses, which are generally much lower than market rate.
The Justice Department customarily weighs a variety of factors when determining whether to reimburse current or former employees for legal costs.
Historically, most requests are not honored if the employee does not seek reimbursement from the outset, but the department has discretion to make exceptions. Other considerations include whether the person was acting in his or her official duties and whether it is in the interest of the United States.
A variety of previous Office of Legal Counsel opinions have also laid out some of the more specific circumstances under which those employees may be reimbursed.
In one 2020 opinion, the OLC found that government employees who were interviewed as witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election who hired private lawyers were eligible for reimbursement.
“Reimbursing the attorney’s fees of these witnesses therefore would generally be in the interest of the United States, at least for witnesses who were not a subject or a target of the investigation,” the opinion stated.
It was not clear how the Justice Department might apply its regulations and past interpretations of those rules to Meadows.
Meadows is separately seeking reimbursement for legal fees in Georgia, under a state law that allows defendants to make such a request in situations where a prosecutor is disqualified for misconduct, according to court filings.
According to those filings, he paid the law firm Griffin Durham more than $569,000 for representation in that case, and is directly responsible for all unpaid or unbilled additional professional fees totaling a little more than $19,000.
Separately, lawyers from the firm McGuireWoods also billed Meadows nearly $1.3 million, of which Meadows paid nearly $650,000, according to a sworn statement from Terwilliger.
After Terwilliger left the firm and continued representing Meadows on the Georgia case and other related matters, including Smith’s investigations, he charged him a flat fee of $20,000 a month in 2024 and $12,000 a month in 2025, the filing shows.
Meadows also paid a flat fee of $200,000 to Paul Clement, a prominent former DOJ appellate lawyer who represented him when Meadows tried to get his state case moved to federal court.
The court filings did not detail how Meadows funded his defense, though prior reporting by Notus shows that at least some of his bills may have been paid for by Personnel Policy Operations, a nonprofit created by Meadows’ employer, the Conservative Partnership Institute.
In 2024, a progressive group called Accountable.U.S. asked the D.C. Attorney General’s office to investigate whether the arrangement to pay some of his bills violates IRS rules for non-profit organizations.
CBS could not immediately determine the status of that request.
The Justice Department is not expected to consider reimbursing Meadows for fees incurred in the Georgia case until the state makes a determination. Sources said he may then petition the department to pay the balance.
Meadows is one of a number of other defendants in the Georgia case seeking reimbursement for legal fees totaling more than $17 million, according to court filings.
The outcome of those requests remains unclear, since the fee reimbursement law did not go into effect until May 2025, and the case was indicted in 2023.
Lawyers for the county have argued the defendants’ requests violate the Georgia constitution because they are seeking payment retroactively.
The Georgia Court of Appeals is currently weighing whether to accept the case.
While that case plays out publicly in state courts, the Justice Department’s determination on the matter is not likely to be made public.
Unlike internal Justice Department tort settlements which can be obtained through public records requests, decisions on whether to provide counsel or reimburse attorney fees is treated as privileged — even though the cost is borne by taxpayers.
Jared Eggleston contributed to this report.