Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), are intensifying their investigation into bribery allegations involving White House border czar Tom Homan after Attorney General Pam Bondi dodged Senate Democrats’ questions on the matter during an oversight hearing.
Raskin, the committee’s ranking member, first wrote to Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel last month about the investigation that had been dropped. In Wednesday’s follow-up letter, Raskin says House Judiciary Democrats never received a response from the two administration officials.
The committee demands further clarification on the “timeline of events” surrounding Homan’s alleged bribery acceptance and appointment in the Trump administration.
“Who knew about the Homan cash bribery scandal, when did they know it, and why was Mr. Homan appointed ‘Border Czar’ even in the face of such damning evidence of his taking bribes for government contracts?” the letter asks.
In September 2024, Homan allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives in exchange for helping the agents lock down government contracts if President Donald Trump won reelection last November.
The Trump administration inexplicably shut down the investigation into Homan after the Department of Justice and FBI reportedly planned to continue it. The decision appears to have been influenced by Patel, who allegedly requested a status update on the case before it was closed.
Raskin claims Trump’s transition team knew Homan was under investigation, presuming the DOJ and FBI informed the team of the investigation, and says the decision to drop the case was “pre-ordained” when Trump appointed the former acting ICE director as border czar.
“Americans need to know whether the President colluded with Justice Department leadership to protect a corrupt official at the center of the President’s immigration crackdown whom he knowingly appointed despite evidence of bribery,” the letter states.
“And Mr. Homan’s tacit admission that he accepted a paper bag stuffed with $50,000 in cash, combined with the White House’s defensive claims about government ‘entrapment,’ all further suggest the likelihood of pay-to-play corruption at the highest levels of this Administration,” it adds.
The letter poses seven questions to the DOJ, including whether Trump appointed “any other persons to public office who were the targets of ongoing criminal investigations” and whether those investigations were “similarly killed.” It also requested various documents and communications regarding the scandal.
The committee demands a response from Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward by Oct. 22.
During her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Bondi sidestepped multiple questions on Homan and reiterated that the investigation by FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors had “found no credible evidence of any wrongdoing.”
During the oversight hearing, Bondi accused Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) of calling her a “liar” when she was pressed over the existence of tape and video evidence that recorded the transfer of the money to Homan. She said she didn’t know the answer because the matter was resolved before her confirmation as attorney general earlier this year.
The White House has defended Homan in response to the congressional scrutiny led by both House and Senate Democrats.
SENATE DEMOCRATS JOIN HOUSE EFFORT TO DEMAND DOJ RELEASE FILES ON HOMAN BRIBERY INVESTIGATION
“This blatantly political investigation, which found no evidence of illegal activity, is yet another example of how the Biden Department of Justice was using its resources to target President Trump’s allies rather than investigate real criminals and the millions of illegal aliens who flooded our country,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson previously told the Washington Examiner.
“Tom Homan has not been involved with any contract award decisions,” she said. “He is a career law enforcement officer and lifelong public servant who is doing a phenomenal job on behalf of President Trump and the country.”
, 2025-10-08 23:44:00, , Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, David Zimmermann
