Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

The White House has defended Border Czar Tom Homan after a report revealed he accepted a $50,000 cash payment from undercover FBI agents in a 2024 bribery sting tied to promises of future immigration-related government contracts.

Getting into it: The bribery probe into Tom Homan began in mid-2024, after an individual under investigation in a separate national security case informed federal agents that Homan had been soliciting payments from private contractors in exchange for promises of government work tied to immigration enforcement. This tip led the FBI to launch a sting operation in the summer of 2024, during which undercover agents posing as businessmen arranged meetings with Homan and a business associate. On September 20, 2024, at a location in Texas, Homan was recorded on video and audio accepting a bag containing $50,000 in cash (reportedly inside a bag from the restaurant chain Cava). In those conversations, Homan allegedly indicated he could help the agents win immigration-related contracts once he returned to government service in a second Trump administration.

At the time of the cash handoff, Homan was not a public official but was actively campaigning with Trump and had publicly stated he expected to return to a top immigration post. Internal DOJ summaries, reviewed by MSNBC and others, show that prosecutors and FBI officials believed they had a viable case for conspiracy to commit bribery, fraud, and other federal charges. One document described how investigators planned to monitor Homan’s actions if he assumed office to determine whether he would follow through on the promises made during the sting. Some argue that while he couldn’t yet be charged under standard bribery statutes since he was not officially in office, the act of agreeing to influence government contracts in exchange for money could qualify as criminal conspiracy.

Despite mounting internal support to pursue the case, the investigation came to a halt in early 2025 after Donald Trump returned to the presidency and named Homan as his “border czar,” a role that does not require Senate confirmation or a full FBI background check. Soon after Trump’s inauguration, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche formally shut down the probe. In a statement, the DOJ said, “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.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson echoed that sentiment, calling the probe “a blatantly political investigation” and insisting Homan “has not been involved with any contract award decisions.” She added: “He is a lifelong public servant who is doing a phenomenal job on behalf of President Trump and the country.”

Homan has publicly denied the allegations, calling the accusations “bullshit” and maintaining that he did nothing wrong.

Democrats react: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for an immediate reopening of the Justice Department’s investigation into Homan, accusing the Trump administration of shielding political allies from accountability. “If they want to prosecute or investigate anyone, start with Tom Homan and the fact that he appears to have taken a $50,000 bribe,” Jeffries said in a CNN interview. “But they want to sweep those charges under the table to allow this guy to continue to unleash mass ICE agents on the American people.”

Jeffries vowed that Democrats in Congress would not wait until after the next election to act. “We’re going to launch these investigations now and make sure — just as we’ve done in the case of the Epstein files — that we can present the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the American people, and hold people publicly accountable for their behavior.”