Maine’s U.S. senators had little to say Monday on President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan after the Justice Department reportedly shut down an investigation into Homan allegedly accepting cash from FBI agents posing as business executives.
Hidden cameras captured Homan allegedly accepting a bag containing $50,000 in cash from federal agents posing as businessmen who were seeking to win government contracts, according to stories first reported by MSNBC and The New York Times over the weekend.
The meeting reportedly took place in September 2024 in Texas and featured Homan telling the undercover agents he could win them contracts if Trump won a second term. The FBI and Justice Department were waiting to see if Homan delivered on his alleged promise, but the investigation reportedly stalled after Trump took office in January before the administration closed it in recent weeks, according to the reports citing unnamed sources.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the lone Republican in Maine’s congressional delegation, and Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, were together in Skowhegan on Monday to celebrate the opening of an expanded New Balance factory. They did not take questions from reporters but responded to inquiries sent to their offices later Monday.
Collins currently has “no information” about the allegations involving Homan, spokesperson Blake Kernen said. King’s office is looking into the reports and seeking more information, according to spokesperson Matthew Felling.
The White House, Justice Department and FBI Director Kash Patel told national outlets the investigation against Homan, whose appointment was not subject to congressional approval, was politically motivated.
“They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing,” Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The Department’s resources must remain focused on real threats to the American people, not baseless investigations.”
The broader federal investigation reportedly began in the summer of 2024 under former President Joe Biden’s administration and featured the U.S. attorney’s office in western Texas asking the Justice Department to join an ongoing probe into Homan and others based on evidence of an undercover payment.
Homan, who was acting ICE chief during Trump’s first term and also led deportations under former President Barack Obama, often joined the Republican president on the 2024 campaign trail. At the time of the alleged meeting with undercover agents, he was leading a private consulting business that touted its ability to win government contracts for companies in the border security industry.
Various Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill responded to the allegations against Homan with criticism or calls for him to resign, while Republicans were quieter on the allegations against the man tasked with carrying out Trump’s aggressive and controversial deportation agenda.
“Nothing to it,” Homan told a reporter over the weekend.
