President Donald Trump’s border chief Tom Homan dismissed a reporter’s question about taking $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents last year in a sting operation.
“Give me a break,” Homan told news agencies at the White House, according to CBS reporter Jennifer Jacobs.
Critics dragged Homan’s non-response across social media on Thursday.
“That’s not ‘no,’” posted Semafor writer David Weigel.
“Homan has been given many opportunities to put this question to bed by answering in the negative and has steadfastly not done so, including in this instance,” commented Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for the office of U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
Homan has described the reporting on the allegations as a “hit piece.”
“I don’t care what people think about me and never have,” Homan said.
However, in a Sunday interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Vice President JD Vance declined to say whether Homan accepted and kept the $50,000 payment after repeated questioning, while also insisting that Homan “did not take a bribe.”
Politico reports Attorney General Pam Bondi also declined to say whether or not Homan accepted the alleged bribe during a congressional hearing. She told lawmaker that Homan’s investigation was resolved before she was confirmed as attorney general. President Donald Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in September that the Justice Department has closed the investigation into Homan.
Commenters on X speculated that Homan could not simply deny the accusations at every turn because footage was available proving otherwise.
“There's no ‘if’ about it — Homan is on video taking the $50,000. It's bizarre we frame this as a theoretical situation when it is captured on film,” posted one X user.
“‘No’ seems like a simple answer. Except there are other witnesses on the recording … so,” suggested another.
Still another internet observer wondered why reporters did not rephrase their inquiries at this stage of the investigation: “At what point can a journalist just ask why he took the money? Doesn't feel loaded at this point.”
Other critics predicted the Trump administration was hoping the Homan issue would simply evaporate with time.
“They think … they can wait and this will just go away. Same with the [Jeffery] Epstein stuff,” an X user said.