Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to deny that President Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, accepted $50,000 in cash during an FBI sting operation.
On Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) questioned Bondi about the cash Homan allegedly received from FBI agents in 2024 in exchange for promises to steer federal contracts when Trump returned to the presidency.
"What became of the $50,000 in cash that the FBI paid to Mr. Homan in a paper bag, evidently?" Whitehouse asked.
"Senator, as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently stated, the investigation of Mr. Homan was subjected to a full review by the FBI, agents, and DOJ prosecutors," Bondi stated. "They found no credible evidence of any wrongdoing."
"And that was not my question," Whitehouse countered. "My question was, what became of the $50,000 in cash that the FBI delivered, evidently in a paper bag, to Mr. Homan?"
"Senator, I'd look at your facts," Bondi replied.
"Are you saying that they did not deliver $50,000 in cash to Mr. Homan?" the senator wondered.
"Senator, as recently stated, the investigation of Mr. Homan was subjected to a full review by the FBI agents, by Department of Justice prosecutors," Bondi repeated without answering the question.
"That's a different question," Whitehouse pressed. "What became of the $50,000? Did the FBI get it back?"
"Can't you answer this question?" he asked.
Bondi, however, urged Whitehouse to ask FBI Director Kash Patel.
"Did Homan keep the $50,000?" Whitehouse tried again.
"You know, you're very concerned about money and people taking money, and you rail against dark money," Bondi dodged. "Yet you work with dark money groups all the time, Senator Whitehouse."
When Whitehouse asked if Homan had declared the $50,000 as income to the IRS, the attorney general suggested that the senator was guilty of "corruption" in connection with legislation that would have subsidized his wife's company.
"Questions here are actually pretty specific," Whitehouse said. "So having you respond with completely irrelevant far-right internet talking points really is not very helpful here."
"What happened to the $50,000?" he remarked. "Did Homan keep it? Did the FBI get it back? If he kept it, did he put it on his tax returns? Pretty simple questions."