White House Defends Border Czar Amid Bribery Allegations

The White House stood behind "border czar" Tom Homan on Monday following reports that he had accepted $50,000 from undercover agents posing as businesspeople during an undercover FBI operation last year, leading to a bribery investigation that was shut down by the Trump administration Justice Department. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized Homan's encounter with the undercover agents as an effort by the Biden administration to "entrap one of the president's top allies and supporters, someone who they knew very well would be taking a government position." She added, per the AP, "The White House and the president stand by Tom Homan 100% because he did absolutely nothing wrong, and he is a brave public servant who has done a phenomenal job in helping the president shut down the border."

Leavitt insisted to reporters during the briefing Monday that Homan "never took the $50,000 you're referring to," though she did not elaborate what she meant. An MSNBC spokesperson said the network stood by its reporting. In a subsequent interview on Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle, Homan said: "I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal." "You're talking about a guy who spent 34 years enforcing the law. I mean, I left a very successful business that I ran to come back and work for government again," Homan said, adding: "My family sacrifices. I make sacrifices every day. I got more death threats than anybody." Homan also said, "I haven't lived with my wife in months because I don't want her to be here right now with all the threats."

The revelation about Homan has nonetheless sparked fresh concerns about political interference in Justice Department matters at a time when Trump's calls for prosecutions of his adversaries is testing the law enforcement agency's long tradition of independence when it comes to prosecutorial decision-making. Trump escalated his pressure campaign on the Justice Department over the weekend, publicly calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to move forward with cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey, and US Sen. Adam Schiff.