In addition to reporting the news, this video interview shows how the public could demand information to advance the story.
That’s an editorial focus that sets All Rise News apart from other newsletters.
In the wake of bombshell reporting that Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan received $50,000 in a paper bag from undercover FBI agents — who were posing as businessmen seeking government contracts — Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have launched an inquiry demanding answers.
“Such allegations of high-level corruption and cover-up demand your close cooperation with congressional oversight and transparency to restore public trust, including the public release of key evidence,” the Committee’s minority members wrote in a letter to Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, demanding the release of the “full investigative file” in Homan’s case.
Ex-FBI assistant director
, who helped lead counterintelligence operations during his tenure at the Bureau, explained in a video interview what information lawmakers and the public should be demanding.“We need hearings,” Figliuzzi said, adding that Trump’s Justice Department left themselves open to scrutiny by closing the investigation.
“Now that it's closed, they can't come out and say, ‘Hey, this is a sensitive, ongoing undercover operation. We can't talk about it,’” Figliuzzi noted. “Au contraire, you closed it.”
First and foremost, lawmakers and watchdog groups have been demanding the release of the surreptitiously recorded tape that reportedly captures Homan taking the money.
Figliuzzi says that the undercover agents could be fair game for congressional testimony.
“You could put them in behind closed doors in Congress so they're not exposed,” he said.
On Sept. 20, MSNBC reporters Carol Leonig and Ken Dilanian broke the story in a deeply sourced investigation citing confidential sources and internal documents, and The New York Times later confirmed the substance of that reporting, adding new details about the underlying investigation.
Both stories reported that the undercover operation on Homan sprang out of a separate investigation, but the Times reported that the other probe was a counterintelligence investigation.
Unpacking the significance of that detail, Figliuzzi said: “Counterintelligence is identifying and defeating the efforts of foreign intelligence services operating against U.S. interests for the FBI, particularly inside the United States.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Homan accepted the $50,000 from the undercover agents, but Homan made no such denial when asked about the reporting by Fox cable host Laura Ingraham. Homan only insisted that he did nothing criminal or illegal.
If Homan accepted the money, Figliuzzi noted that would be taxable income, which could be another avenue for congressional investigation.
“Sadly, with Trump, it's really hard to get tax information, particularly out of Trump's IRS — but the question needs to be asked,” Figliuzzi said. “And the most likely venue for that happening would indeed be congressional hearings.”
Watch the full interview at the top of this article for an ex-FBI leader’s insights into the reporting about Homan and ideas for how the public can respond to it.
