Democrats have urged treasury watchdogs to investigate reports that Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan accepted a $50,000 bag of cash from an undercover FBI agent in return for political favours.
In the alleged scheme, Homan promised immigration-related government contracts when he joined the Trump administration in exchange for the money, according to unnamed sources quoted by multiple media outlets. The justice department subsequently shut down a bribery investigation.
On Monday, Congressman Dave Min of California, a member of the House of Representatives oversight committee, wrote to treasury inspector general Russell George and treasury inspector general for tax administration Russell Martin to call for scrutiny of whether Homan reported the payment and whether it was connected to his private consulting firm.
“History suggests that we should follow the money – especially if it went unreported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” wrote Min, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s Fighting Corruption Taskforce. “Under federal law, all income, legal or illegal, must be reported to the IRS, including payments stemming from bribery.
“Knowingly failing to report this income would likely violate federal tax law. Accordingly, I request that your offices investigate whether Mr Homan properly reported this payment on his 2024 federal tax return.”
Homan oversees the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations of people in the country illegally. An unapologetic immigration hardliner, he explained a decision to defy a court order that barred the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members by stating: “I don’t care what the judges think.”
Homan was previously an official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) under Barack Obama and its acting director in Trump’s first term. During Trump’s four years out of power, he ran a consulting business to help companies obtain immigration-related government contracts.
In the recorded sting operation, Homan accepted a $50,000 bribe contained in a bag from the restaurant chain Cava, claiming he would keep the money in a trust until he had completed his service in the Trump administration, a source told the Reuters news agency.
Homan was then investigated for bribery and other crimes but this was shut down after Trump took office, reportedly because he did not hold a government position at the time and because of the difficulty of proving that he had agreed to carry out any specific acts in exchange for the money.
At a press briefing on Monday, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Homan had accepted such a payment. “Mr Homan never took the $50,000 you’re referring to, so you should get your facts straight,” she told one reporter.
“The White House and the president stand by Tom Homan 100% because he did absolutely nothing wrong,” Leavitt added. She insisted that FBI agents and prosecutors found no evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing by the border czar.
But Carol Leonnig, one of the MSNBC journalists who broke the story, responded on social media: “White House spokesperson says that Homan never took $50,000; we reviewed internal document saying Homan accepted the cash payment from undercover FBI agents in September 2024.”
Political pressure on Homan is mounting. On Sunday Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic senator for Massachusetts, posted on the X platform: “The act was caught on camera. The administration must turn over the tapes to Congress. Every decision made by Homan must be scrutinized for possible corruption.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut added on Monday: “$50,000 cash in a bag – clearly Border Czar Tom Homan isn’t afraid to solicit personal payments in exchange for government favors. Trump leaders aren’t serving the country – they’re failing it, putting personal profit first. Another example of rampant corruption in this admin.”
Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania wrote on X: “White House knew Homan had accepted $50K to influence contracts. They appointed him anyways. Then they disbanded the DOJ’s Public Integrity unit and quashed the Homan investigation. There’s no end to the corruption in Trump’s White House.”
