On October 7, 2025, the usually staid halls of the Senate Judiciary Committee were anything but calm. Attorney General Pam Bondi, recently sworn in for her testimony, faced a barrage of pointed questions about a bribery probe that has dogged the Justice Department—and the White House—for months. At the center of the storm: Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, and a mysterious $50,000 in cash allegedly handed to him by undercover FBI agents last year.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), never one to shy from a tough line of questioning, zeroed in on the fate of the cash. The alleged sting, which took place in September 2024, reportedly involved Homan accepting a bag stuffed with $50,000 from agents posing as business executives eager to secure government contracts in a possible second Trump administration. According to MSNBC’s reporting from September 2025, journalists Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian described Homan accepting the money in exchange for “facilitating” future contracts, a claim that sent shockwaves through Washington and left the White House scrambling for answers.
During the hearing, Whitehouse pressed Bondi repeatedly. “What became of the $50,000 in cash that the FBI gave to Mr. Homan?” he asked, referencing the widely reported sting. Bondi, however, stuck to her script. “The investigation of Mr. Homan was subjected to a full review by five FBI agents and five Department of Justice prosecutors. They found no evidence of wrongdoing,” she replied, echoing her earlier public statements.
But Whitehouse wasn’t satisfied. “That’s a different question,” he shot back. “What became of the $50,000? Did the FBI get it back?” Bondi, without missing a beat, suggested, “You’re welcome to talk to the FBI.” When Whitehouse pointed out that the FBI ultimately reports to her, Bondi punted again: “Senator Whitehouse, you’re welcome to discuss this with Director Patel.”
The exchange quickly became emblematic of the day’s proceedings—answers that circled the issue, but never quite landed. Whitehouse, clearly frustrated, eventually declared, “I can see that I’m not going to get a straight answer from you to a very simple question.”
Bondi’s deflections weren’t limited to the Homan probe. The hearing also veered into other contentious territory, including the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, accusations of weaponizing the justice system, and President Trump’s controversial push to deploy the military across U.S. cities. Yet it was the $50,000 sting that hung over the proceedings like a cloud, drawing criticism from both inside and outside the chamber.
The backstory is as tangled as it is explosive. After Trump’s return to office in January 2025, Homan was tapped for a pivotal role in carrying out the president’s mass deportation strategy. But just months earlier, in September 2024, he had reportedly been caught on tape accepting the cash in a sting operation orchestrated by the FBI. According to The Daily Beast, the money was intended as a bribe to secure government contracts should Trump win the presidency again.
Despite the gravity of the allegations, Bondi’s Justice Department quietly shut down the investigation after Trump took office. Her explanation? A full review by FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors “found no credible evidence of wrongdoing.” The matter, at least in the eyes of the Justice Department, was closed.
Not everyone agreed. Last month, Democrats in both the Senate and House announced that they were launching their own probe into the DOJ’s handling of the Homan case. They formally requested that the agency preserve “any and all records related to the investigation into Mr. Homan and the decision to close the investigation,” including the FBI’s full investigative file and “any recordings of Mr. Homan receiving cash from undercover FBI agents.” While Democrats, as the minority party, lack the power to subpoena these files, they have indicated they will seek voluntary interviews with former Biden administration officials who were briefed on the case.
The White House, for its part, has tried to distance itself from the controversy. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last month that Homan “never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to, so you should get your facts straight.” Homan himself has been less definitive, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham, “I did nothing criminal, I did nothing illegal, and there’s hit piece after hit piece after hit piece.” He added, “I’m glad the FBI and DOJ came out and said that nothing illegal happened and no criminal activity.”
Bondi, meanwhile, has not been shy about going on the offensive. During the hearing, she attacked Senator Whitehouse for his alleged connections to prominent Democrat donor Reid Hoffman, a former Epstein associate, and accused him of pushing for legislation that benefited his wife’s company. Whitehouse dismissed the attacks, retorting, “The questions here are actually pretty specific, so having you respond with completely irrelevant far right internet talking points really is not very helpful here.”
The drama has also exposed tensions within the Justice Department itself. Bondi’s relationship with FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, has reportedly been fraught. According to The Daily Beast, an angry confrontation erupted at the White House earlier this year, with Bondi accusing Bongino of leaking information to the media. Patel, along with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy Taylor Budowich, witnessed the clash. Bondi’s repeated deferrals to Patel during the hearing highlighted the sometimes uneasy alliance between the Attorney General and the FBI’s top brass.
Outside observers have not been impressed by Bondi’s evasiveness. David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, summed up the sentiment on X: “If Homan had not kept the 50 grand he received from undercover FBI agents, she—and HE—surely would have said so!”
For now, the fate of the $50,000 remains a mystery. The Justice Department insists the case is closed. Democrats are pushing for answers, demanding transparency and accountability. The White House wants the story to go away. And Tom Homan, at the center of it all, maintains his innocence, but stops short of a flat denial.
Washington is no stranger to scandal, but the unanswered questions about the Homan sting—and the Justice Department’s handling of it—have left lawmakers and the public alike wondering just how much sunlight will ever reach this particular corner of the capital.