The Justice Department has shut down its probe into allegations Trump border czar Tom Homan accepted a Cava restaurant bag containing a $50,000 cash bribe last year.
The alleged payment to Homan was made as part of a sting by undercover FBI agents during the Biden administration in September, with the G-men presenting themselves as businessmen seeking border security contracts with the federal government.
Border czar Tom Homan was reportedly under FBI investigation for bribery after he allegedly accepted a bag with $50,000 cash from a pair of undercover agents in September. Getty Images
A source familiar with the investigation told the New York Times that the alleged transaction, which was audio-recorded, was allowed to play out and eventually led to the unsuspecting Homan being investigated for bribery, although he was not serving in the federal government at the time.
Once the new Trump administration was in place, the DOJ closed down the investigation, citing doubts about whether prosecutors could prove Homan promised specific actions in exchange for the cash, and the fact that he was not a federal employee at the time.
FBI Director Kash Patel called the investigation into Homan “baseless.” AP
“This matter originated under the previous administration and was subjected to a full review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors,” said FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a recent joint statement.
“They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing. The Department’s resources must remain focused on real threats to the American people, not baseless investigations. As a result, the investigation has been closed.”
The White House also spoke out in Homan’s defense, dismissing the case as a political vendetta by the previous administration.
“This blatantly political investigation, which found no evidence of illegal activity, is yet another example of how the Biden Department of Justice was using it’s resources to target President Trump’s allies rather than investigate real criminals and the millions of illegal aliens who flooded our country,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
The White House said in a statement that the investigation was a “blatantly political” move by the Biden Justice Department. Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Tom Homan has not been involved with any contract award decisions. He is a career law enforcement officer and lifelong public servant who is doing a phenomenal job on behalf of President Trump and the country.”
When asked about the case Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back that “Mr. Homan did absolutely nothing wrong” and flatly denied he took the money in the first place.
“This was another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters in the midst of a presidential campaign,” she said, claiming the FBI had been attempting to “entrap” Homan.
“The White House and the president stand by Tom Homan 100% because he did absolutely nothing wrong.”
Homan, 63, who was the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the first Trump administration, has been tasked during the president’s second term with leading a crackdown at the US southern border. The border czar famously vowed to lead the “biggest deportation operation this country has ever seen.”
Immigration enforcement has significantly increased during his tenure, with Homan telling reporters in April at a White House press briefing that 139,000 illegal immigrants had been deported under his aegis.
Over the summer, Homan said he wanted ICE to ramp up arrests to 7,000 a day after Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passed and boosted the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement coffers.
