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President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, accepted a $50,000 briefcase from an undercover FBI agent last year in a U.S. Justice Department bribery investigation that has since been closed, two sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.
In the alleged scheme, Homan promised immigration-related government contracts when he joined the Trump administration in exchange for money, the sources said, speaking anonymously to discuss the nonpublic investigation.
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the investigation closed over the summer, one of the sources said. Homan could not be reached for comment.
"This matter arose during the previous administration and was subject to a thorough review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors. They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing," Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Sunday.
The investigation into Homan began around August 2024, near the end of President Joe Biden's administration, and stemmed from a separate national security investigation, one of the sources told Reuters.
In that investigation, the target repeatedly mentioned Homan, saying he was collecting bribes in exchange for future government contracts, the two sources told Reuters.
An undercover operation was organized and Homan was caught on tape accepting a $50,000 bribe in a bag from the Cava restaurant chain, sources said.
Homan oversees the Trump administration's campaign to mass-deport people who are in the country illegally. The White House said he was not involved in awarding any contracts.
"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," Abigail Jackson, the White House deputy press secretary, said in a statement.
A grand jury investigation into Homan in the Western District of Texas was still in the early stages when Trump returned to the White House in January, the sources said.
Emil Bove, who was a serving deputy attorney general and is now a federal judge, was briefed on the case in February, one of the sources said. In that exchange, he expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation and said it was an example of a “deep state” operation, referring to the idea that unelected officials secretly control the government.
The statement from Patel and Blanche said the investigation was a "blatantly political investigation" and "another example of how the Biden Justice Department was using its resources to target allies of President Trump."
During Trump's four years in office, Homan ran a consulting business to help companies win immigration-related government contracts.
In the recorded undercover operation, Homan claimed he would keep the bribe money in a trust fund until he finished his service in the Trump administration, one of the sources said.
Not long after the meeting, when he criticized Homan's investigation, Bove separately ordered the corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped, prompting the resignation of career prosecutors. The Justice Department has also largely dismantled the corruption prosecution unit that participated in the Homan investigation.
The now-closed investigation into Homan was previously reported by MSNBC. / Adapted from Reuters /
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