Dems launch probes into Trump’s border czar amid bribe allegations
by Mike Lillis and Rebecca Beitsch - 09/24/25 6:00 AM ET
House Democrats have launched a series of investigations into Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, amid allegations that he accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents as part of an influence-peddling probe.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is pressing the Justice Department to turn over a reported tape showing Homan accepting the money last year as part of an FBI sting. Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, wants the panel’s Republicans to demand Homan’s testimony — by subpoena if necessary.
Republicans have shown little appetite for scrutinizing Trump, however, and Democrats aren’t holding their breath for Trump’s allies to help with any formal probe into the allegations against Homan. Instead, they’re initiating their own investigations into reports that Trump’s border czar accepted a bag of cash from federal agents probing pay-to-play schemes for government contracts.
“Republicans haven’t been functioning as a separate and co-equal branch of government,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said this week in announcing the Democrats’ investigations. “They are simply a reckless and extreme rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s out of control agenda, and we are not going to wait until we take the majority back in November of next year.”
As the minority party, Democrats face an uphill climb in their effort to investigate Homan’s alleged misconduct. Without gavels, they can’t stage formal committee hearings, for instance, and they don’t have the authority to issue subpoenas to compel witness testimony — a power reserved for the majority.
Still, the Democrats’ partisan probes will likely keep the Homan allegations in the headlines for weeks to come, helping the party drive home one of its central messaging themes heading into next year’s midterm elections: namely, that Trump’s second term is rife with corruption and abuse, and GOP leaders in the Capitol have done nothing to rein it in.
Democrats don’t just want the Homan tapes but also insight into an investigation that was shut down once Trump officials landed in office.
Adding to the scrutiny are the responses from the White House and Homan.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/5518431-house-democrats-tom-homan-investigation/
