FBI tapes Trump's future border czar taking $50K, sources say

In the summer of 2025, Trump administration appointees closed a federal bribery investigation into Tom Homan, the White House border czar. According to sources and internal documents described by MSNBC and Reuters, the probe began in western Texas around August 2024, after the target of a separate national security investigation repeatedly claimed Homan was collecting payments in exchange for future government contracts. On September 20, 2024, while Homan was running a private consulting business that helped companies seek immigration-related contracts, undercover FBI agents posing as business executives recorded him accepting $50,000 in cash, in a bag from the restaurant chain Cava. Homan indicated he could help them win border-enforcement contracts in a second Trump administration and said he would keep the money in a trust until his service in the administration was complete, according to the sources. Trump named Homan border czar on November 11, 2024, and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section joined the case later that month. Some FBI and Justice officials believed they had a strong conspiracy case, though a standard bribery charge was uncertain because Homan was not yet a public official. In February 2025, Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, was briefed on the case, called it a "deep state" operation and told officials he did not support it. The case stalled after Trump took office and was closed after FBI Director Kash Patel requested a status update; Reuters reported that Patel ordered it closed. Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the matter had been fully reviewed, that reviewers found no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and that the investigation, which they called "blatantly political," had been closed. The White House said Homan has not been involved in any contract award decisions. Homan did not respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department has since largely dismantled the public corruption unit that took part in the probe.