The White House has dismissed US media reports alleging that border tsar Tom Homan accepted a $50,000 (£37,000) bribe last year during an undercover FBI sting operation.
According to various outlets, Homan last year allegedly promised immigration-related government contracts to FBI agents posing as business executives during a meeting in Texas.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt denied the accusations, stating that Homan “did absolutely nothing wrong” and was the target of the Biden administration’s politically motivated attempt to discredit him.
Homan is leading efforts to deliver on President Donald Trump’s pledge for mass deportations and to stop illegal immigration.
“Mr Homan never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to,” Leavitt said at Monday’s White House briefing. “This was another example of the weaponisation of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters in the midst of a presidential campaign.
“You had FBI agents going undercover to try and entrap one of the president’s top allies and supporters, someone who they knew very well would be taking a government position.”
Leavitt said current FBI Director Kash Patel had ordered an investigation into the matter, which “found zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing”.
“The president stands by Tom Homan, 100%,” she added.
White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said on Sunday that Homan was not involved in awarding any contracts.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency tasked with securing the American border, referred the BBC back to the White House for questions on the matter.
Citing unnamed sources US media reported that the investigation into Homan began around August 2024 and sprang from an unrelated law enforcement probe.
An undercover sting was arranged, and Homan was recorded on audio allegedly accepting $50,000 in a bag from the restaurant chain Cava, the sources reportedly said.
FBI director Patel said in a statement on Saturday: “This matter originated under the previous administration and was subjected to a full review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors.
“They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.”
The New York Times reports that the Trump Justice Department shut down the case amid doubts as to whether prosecutors could prove Homan had done anything illegal, as he was not in government at the time of the incident.
He ran a consulting firm, Homeland Strategic Consulting, which drew scrutiny from Democrats as he was picked to become Trump’s border tsar.
Homan announced he would shut down the consultancy and recuse himself from discussions about border contracts to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
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