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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration has ended a federal bribery investigation into considered one of its prime immigration officers.
What occurred? Final yr, President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan was reportedly recorded accepting $50,000 in money from “businessmen” — undercover FBI brokers — in trade for promising to assist safe authorities contracts, spurring a Justice Division investigation.
Homan was a non-public citizen when he’s mentioned to have accepted the money, however he had boasted about taking part in a distinguished function in a possible second Trump administration within the months main as much as the cost. The investigation was closed earlier this yr by the Trump administration.
Who’s Homan? As border czar, Homan has been one of many public faces of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. He served as performing ICE director in Trump’s first time period, and claimed final yr that he would “run the largest deportation operation this nation’s ever seen.”
What has the Trump administration mentioned concerning the case? The White Home denied Homan accepted the cash — regardless of the reported existence of an audio recording of him doing so — and described the investigation into Homan as entrapment and “one other instance of the weaponization of the Biden DOJ.”
Why does this matter? The Homan story — hundreds in money delivered clandestinely in a takeout bag — could be a serious scandal in another period, underneath another administration. Right here, it’s one information level in a rising physique of proof for the politicization of Trump’s DOJ, together with the Friday resignation of US Legal professional Erik Siebert and a subsequent Fact Social publish by Trump calling for legal costs towards his political opponents.
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
The newest episode of Vox’s The Grey Space podcast has some nice information: The solar will save us. That’s the promise, roughly, of environmental activist and author Invoice McKibben’s newest ebook, Right here Comes the Solar, which is all about how photo voltaic and wind vitality are poised to drive a clean-energy revolution. My colleague Sean Illing spoke with McKibben for The Grey Space, and you may take heed to their dialog right here (or learn an excerpt right here). Have an excellent night!
