Tom Homan allegedly promised to approve immigration-related government contracts in exchange for the money. Photo / Getty Images
Tom Homan allegedly promised to approve immigration-related government contracts in exchange for the money. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump’s border tsar has been accused of accepting US$50,000 ($85,389) from an undercover FBI agent as part of a bribery investigation.
Tom Homan allegedly promised to approve immigration-related government contracts when he joined the Administration in exchange for the money.
Kash Patel, the FBI Director, closed the investigation intoHoman over the northern summer, Reuters and the New York Times reported, drawing scrutiny from critics.
Kash Patel, the FBI Director, closed the investigation into Tom Homan over the summer. Photo / Getty Images
Defending Homan yesterday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said he did “absolutely nothing wrong”.
“This was another example of the weaponisation of the Biden department of justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters,” she said.
“In the midst of a presidential campaign, you had FBI agents going undercover to try and entrap one of the President’s top allies and supporters.”
Leavitt added that multiple prosecutors and FBI agents had looked into the case and “found zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing”.
The alleged cash payment to Homan, made in September 2024, allegedly stemmed from a national security investigation that had begun the month beforehand and did not involve Homan.
In that unrelated probe, the target is said to have repeatedly raised the subject of Homan, saying the former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was collecting bribes in exchange for future government contracts.
During an undercover sting operation, Homan was allegedly caught on audiotape accepting the cash inside a bag from Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant chain, leading to him being investigated for bribery and other crimes.
After Trump returned to office in January, Justice Department officials are said to have closed the investigation owing to uncertainty about whether it could be proved that Homan had agreed to any specific act in exchange for the money, sources told the New York Times.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Homan did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’. Photo / Getty Images
The case was allegedly complicated further as Homan was not a public official at the time he is accused of accepting the cash.
Emil Bove, who was acting deputy attorney general and is now a federal judge, was briefed on the case in February, according to Reuters, and dismissed it as an example of a “deep state” operation – a term referring to the conspiracy that unelected officials secretly control the government.
A statement from Patel and Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney-general, said the probe was a “blatantly political investigation” and “yet another example of how the Biden Department of Justice was using its resources to target President Trump’s allies”.
“This matter originated under the previous Administration and was subjected to a full review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors. They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing,” the pair said in a statement.
“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.”
Homan has been the face of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration, tasked with carrying out what the President has called the “largest deportation in American history”.
He served as an ICE official during the Obama and first Trump administrations before running a consulting business to help companies obtain immigration-related government contracts during Biden’s tenure.
In the recorded sting operation, Homan is alleged to have claimed he would keep the bribe money in a trust until he had completed his service in the Trump Administration, according to Reuters.
The White House said that Trump’s border tsar has not been involved in awarding any contracts and had been targeted for his outspoken support of the President.
Leavitt said: “He is a brave public servant who has done a phenomenal job in helping the President shut down the border”.
A spokesman for Homan pointed to Leavitt’s comments when approached by the Telegraph.
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