White House Border Czar Tom Homan Took $50,000 in FBI Sting
NEWS & RESEARCH
A month before President Trump announced that he would appoint Tom Homan as his border czar, Homan was videotaped accepting a Cava food chain bag with $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen wanting to secure future government contracts related to border security. The bribe was part of a larger ongoing counterintelligence investigation, but the Justice Department officials shut down the probe into Homan after Trump took office.
SOURCES: New York Times
ANALYSIS &OPINION
New Yorker contributor Ruth Marcus wrote that it was “hard to imagine” any other administration deciding to give a prominent role to an official accused of taking such a blatant bribe. The New York Times noted that federal agents handing over a “sizable sum” without a clear way of getting it back suggested that they had “considerable evidence” that Homan was planning “to provide kickbacks once in a position of authority,” and expected to be able to prove it.
SOURCES: New Yorker | New York Times
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
Support the lawsuit filed by Democracy Defenders Fund to force the release of the recordings of Tom Homan allegedly accepting bribe.
Support calls for an Inspector General and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) investigations.
Pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act which would limit contacts between the White House and the DOJ and strengthen Congress’s oversight role.
Legislation: S.2838 - Protecting Our Democracy Act
