A former immigration official, who previously served under Donald Trump’s ”border czar” Tom Homan, cut off a reporter from MSNBC when asked about his part in telling undercover DOJ officials that his former boss could help them cash in on federal contracts if Donald Trump became president again.
During an appearance on MSNBC on Tuesday morning, as all the networks were focused on Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaking to the top military leadership at a Marine base in Quantico, Virginia, reporter Ken Dilanian was asked about the new revelations.
According to a Monday report from Dilanian and Carol Leonnig, Julian “Jace” Calderas “proposed to the agents — who were posing as businessmen — that Homan, in exchange for $1 million, could help them win lucrative federal contracts” if Trump were to be re-elected.
The internal Justice Department document also revealed that Calderas accepted $10,000 from the undercover FBI agents during a meeting in 2024 after first proposing the scheme in 2023.
As Dilanian reported, when speaking with MSNBC’s Anna Cabrera, “In September 2024, there was the meeting that we reported on where Tom Homan, according to documents we saw and sources, accepted $50,000 in cash.”
“Calderas also accepted money at this meeting, $10,000, according to this document,” he added. “When we reached out by phone, my colleague Carol Leonnig got him on the phone, and laid out our reporting. He said, I don't know anything about this, and if what you're saying is true, I have to contact my lawyer. And he was unreachable after that.”
“The FBI and the Justice Department declined to comment,” he added.