An interview with Vice President JD Vance and George Stephanopoulos was cut short after a tense altercation on Sunday during Stephanopoulos’s ABC News segment, “This Week.”
The nearly 13-minute interview covered the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and then moved into mortgage fraud allegations against President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members.
Things really escalated when Stephanopoulos asked Vance about the alleged bribery scandal involving Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, and how critics view the Trump administration as holding a double standard in its prosecutions.
Last month, MSNBC published a story regarding an undercover operation where Homan was secretly recorded allegedly taking a $50,000 bribe from agents posing as business executives trying to gain favor during the second Trump administration.
The investigation reportedly opened in the summer of 2024, but according to MSNBC, Trump administration officials closed it.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and now the vice president have all denied any wrongdoing on Homan’s part.
Vance and Stephanopoulos interview
“The White House border czar Tom Homan was recorded on an FBI surveillance tape in September 2024, accepting $50,000 in cash. Did he keep that money or give it back?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“You’ve covered the story ad nauseam. Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear, and the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law. I think it’s really preposterous,” Vance responded. He said that journalists like Stephanopoulos should investigate more pressing issues, after which the news anchor doubled down, asking Vance if a bribe was actually accepted.
Vance responded, “I’m sure that in the course of Tom Homan’s life, he has been paid more than $50,000 for services. The question is, Did he do something illegal? And there’s absolutely no evidence. ... I’m not even sure I understand the question. Is it illegal to take a payment for doing services? The FBI has not prosecuted him. I’ve never seen any evidence that he’s engaged in criminal wrongdoing. Nobody has accused Tom of violating a crime, even the far left media, like yourself. So I’m actually not sure what the precise question is. Did he accept $50,000? Honestly, George, I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that he didn’t violate a crime.”
Vance then said Stephanopoulos is losing viewers on his program because of spending time on matters like the Homan investigation.
“And here’s, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program, and why you’re losing credibility because you’re talking for now five minutes with the vice president of the United States about this story regarding Tom Homan” he said. “Meanwhile, low-income women can’t get food because the Democrats and Chuck Schumer have shut down the government. Right now, we’re trying to figure out how to pay our troops, because Chuck Schumer has shut down the government. You are focused on a bogus story. You’re insinuating criminal wrongdoing against a guy who has done nothing wrong, instead of focusing on the fact that our country is struggling because our government shut down.
“Let’s talk about the real issues, George, I think the American people would benefit much more from that than from you going down some weird left wing rabbit hole where the facts clearly show that Tom Homan didn’t engage in any criminal wrongdoing.”
Stephanopoulos responded, “Not a weird left-wing rabbit hole. I didn’t insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50,000, as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024, and you did not answer the question” and cut off the vice president’s video feed and ended the interview.
Following the brief interview, Vance posted on social media, insinuating that the ABC reporter does not have his priorities in line:
“Peace in the Middle East? China threatening critical supply chains? Government shutdown? George S doesn’t care about that. He’s here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan.”