Corruption Watch: Homan’s Bribes and Revolving Door Contracts, Meta’s Latest PAC, and Refusing Corporate PAC Money Wins Elections

Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” accepted a $50,000 bride from undercover FBI agents, according to MSNBC.

Just straight up corruption. Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” accepted a $50,000 bride from undercover FBI agents, according to MSNBC. According to the report, in 2024 Homan promised to secure lucrative government contracts for the undercover officers in exchange for the money. Hidden cameras caught the exchange. After Trump took office, federal prosecutors dropped the case. Homan is still overseeing the largest mass detention and deportation project in our nation’s history. House Democrats are opening an investigation into Homan.

No One Is Sure If It’s Illegal to Accept a $50,000 Bribe Stuffed In a Cava Bag, Thanks to the Supreme Court is a recent headline not from The Onion but the legal outlet Balls and Strikes. There, Madiba K. Dennie describes how the Supreme Court has whittled away so many protections against public corruption that experts say there’s an argument that prosecutors might’ve dropped the case against Homan even without corrupt political motivations. That’s how weak our federal anti-corruption laws are. As Dennie writes: “The existence of non-criminal reasons for accepting $50,000 in a pita pocket probably comes as a surprise to most normal people. But the Supreme Court is famously fond of bribery, and has made it increasingly difficult to successfully prosecute public corruption. In doing so, the Court has made it increasingly easy for people like Homan to take their alleged bribes to-go.”

Somehow, the bribe might not be the worst part of the corruption. Homan seems to be involved in yet more public corruption, according to Bloomberg News. As part of his role as “border czar,” Homan participates in the process of securing the Department of Defense’s immigration contracts. He’s also previously worked for some of the companies competing for those contracts. The Bloomberg report describes how Homan has been meeting with some of the private companies vying for contracts while also participating in government decisions about the contracting process. Multiple contractors the Department of Defense has recently selected as eligible for the contracting process – for contracts worth a cumulative tens of billions of dollars – are former Homan clients or otherwise associated with him. Everything else aside, those billions of dollars are our tax dollars.

The Federal Election Commission has lost another commissioner, reports NOTUS. The commission tasked with regulating campaign spending is now even further away from having a quorum, during an era of rampant political corruption and ever-increasing campaign spending. Ellen Weintraub, former FEC chair and current End Citizens United fellow, told the outlet, “President Trump is intentionally sidelining the nation’s campaign finance watchdog.”

Meta is launching a new super PAC to fight AI regulation, reports Axios. The super PAC, American Technology Excellence Project, will focus on electing both Republican and Democratic state-level candidates. With the federal government in their pocket, tech companies can move on to crushing growing opposition by state lawmakers. Yet another reason to help fortify anti-corruption measures at the state and local level across the country.

All eyes on Ohio, where Republican lawmakers are trying to gerrymander congressional districts yet again. The redistricting process is happening now, reports the Ohio Capitol Journal. If you’re in Ohio, you can make your voice heard by contacting your state lawmakers. As Maya Wiley told Democracy News this week, we have to pay attention to these “gerrymandering shenanigans” because, “Voting is central to the fight for every single one of the issues we also care about.”

More proof that representing people, not corporate donors, wins elections. This week, Adelita Grijalva won the special election for the AZ-07 Congressional seat. Grijalva pledged not to take corporate PAC money, which she told Democracy News was “an easy decision” because “Democrats should be able to say: I stood up for my people.” End Citizen United’s president Tiffany Muller described the win: “This election is a reminder that voters are demanding leaders who will fight for them, not the billionaire class and special interests. Her victory narrows the Republicans’ House majority and proves that voters will rally behind candidates who take on corruption and put working families at the center of their campaigns.” Let’s take that lesson into 2026.