'Border czar' Homan recorded taking bribe, Trump DOJ closed case, reports say

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Sep 22, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s designated “border czar” Tom Homan was recorded by the FBI taking a $50,000 bribe last year, but Trump’s Justice Department closed the case, according to multiple reports.

FBI agents said Homan was peddling influence in an upcoming Trump administration when they approached him with $50,000 in September 2024, MSNBC reported Saturday.

The undercover agents were posing as businessmen, and Homan promised government contracts in exchange for the cash if Trump won the November 2024 presidential election, sources told the outlet.

When Trump won, Justice Department investigators briefed incoming administrators on the Homan case, as part of the vetting process for incoming leaders, sources told ABC News.

Homan was part of Trump’s first administration and a fixture on the campaign trail, and Trump named him the “border czar” shortly after winning the election. FBI agents decided to monitor the situation and see if Homan made good on his promise from September 2024, sources told Reuters.

But shortly after Trump’s inauguration, his former personal attorney and then-Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said he would not support the probe, MSNBC reported. It was officially closed in recent weeks, sources told the station.

“Tom Homan has not been involved with any contract award decisions,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson told The Hill. Homan himself called the investigation “bulls--t” when asked Saturday.

The Homan investigation was part of the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department, according to MSNBC. That section was in the spotlight earlier this year when numerous leaders resigned when asked to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

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