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Democrats in both the US Senate and House on Tuesday announced they were launching a probe into President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, after MSNBC reported this past weekend that he was caught on camera accepting a $50,000 cash bribe by undercover FBI agents.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they had “grave concern” about the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly shutting down the probe into Homan despite the FBI allegedly possessing video evidence of him accepting $50,000 in cash from agents who were posing as businessmen.
“These reports allege that Mr. Homan received a significant amount of money… in ‘exchange for facilitating future contracts related to border enforcement,‘” the Democrats wrote. “Such allegations of high-level corruption and cover-up demand your close cooperation with congressional oversight and transparency to restore public trust.”
The Democrats then asked the DOJ to preserve “any and all records related to the investigation into Mr. Homan and the decision to close the investigation,” and to hand over materials including the FBI’s full investigative file and “any recordings of Mr. Homan receiving cash from undercover FBI agents.”
MSNBC reporter Ken Dilanian noted in a post on X that Democrats lack subpoena power given that they are in the minority in the Senate, which means it’s unlikely that the DOJ will hand over the materials requested.
However, he said that they had other options to gather information about Homan’s alleged actions.
“They certainly could interview career officials involved in the investigation and senior FBI and DoJ officials in the last administration who were briefed on it,” he said.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also sent a letter to Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday demanding that they turn over all audio and video recordings of the reported meeting, communications between the White House and the DOJ regarding the decision to close the investigation, and other materials related to the bribery allegations.
Ryan Nobles of NBC News noted that “should Democrats win back the majority in 2026… this request will quickly become a legal subpoena the DOJ and FBI cannot just ignore.”
Trump and Homan have maintained that the border czar “did nothing criminal or illegal.”
“House Democrats are keeping receipts, Tom,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). “And when law and order returns, we will let people of honor determine whether you did anything ‘criminal or illegal.‘”
The launch of an official investigation into the Homan allegations comes after Democrats over the weekend demanded answers from the Trump administration into why it shut down the DOJ’s probe of the Trump official.
“Release the tapes — Americans deserve disclosure of evidence showing top DHS official Homan accepting a bag full of $50,000 in cash,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on Sunday. “We need to know why the investigation was dropped — all the facts and evidence.”
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