White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt supplied a forceful protection of border czar Tom Homan within the wake of reports that he accepted a bag of cash from undercover FBI brokers, insisting on Monday that he “did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“The president stands 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 stated throughout a press briefing.
The present of help got here simply days after The New York Times reported that Homan was recorded final 12 months accepting $50,000 from the undercover brokers, posing as businessmen, in change for agreeing to assist win federal contracts in a second Trump administration.
An individual accustomed to the matter informed NCS that Homan accepted a cash cost in a sting operation. MSNBC first reported on the investigation.
The September 2024 cost, which was inside a bag from the fast-casual chain Cava, occurred as half of an investigation that was not initially concentrating on Homan, The Times reported. But his acceptance of the cash prompted a probe into the shut ally of President Donald Trump for potential bribery and different crimes.
That inquiry — which started earlier than Trump took workplace for his second time period — was later shut following a assessment of the proof by Trump appointees on the Department of Justice.
Leavitt on Monday defended that call, going so far as to dispute that Homan had taken the $50,000 within the first place.
“This was another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters,” she stated, accusing the FBI of “going undercover to try and entrap” Homan.
Leavitt added that the case was shut after an examination by Trump Justice Department officers and FBI Director Kash Patel later discovered “zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing.”
Leavitt’s protection adopted efforts by the White House and Justice Department to downplay reports about Homan accepting the cash cost, with Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche calling it a “baseless” investigation.
“The Department’s resources must remain focused on real threats to the American people, not baseless investigations,” they stated in a assertion Saturday. “As a result, the investigation has been closed.”
Homan served as appearing director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout Trump’s first time period. Since returning to government because the president’s border czar earlier this 12 months, he has performed a central position within the White House’s mass deportation marketing campaign, profitable reward from Trump for his aggressive push to crack down on immigration on the southern border.