ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended his interview with Vice President JD Vance on Sunday after the politician repeatedly refused to answer whether border czar Tom Homan accepted an alleged $50,000 bribe in the run-up to the 2024 election.
The two engaged in a heated back-and-forth on Sunday’s “This Week” after Stephanopoulos pressed the vice president on the alleged gift. MSNBC reported last month that Homan allegedly accepted the money from undercover FBI agents after indicating he could help said agents, who were posing as business executives, secure government contracts if Trump won the election. The Department of Justice ultimately did not charge Homan, and FBI Director Kash Patel closed the case in recent months.
Stephanopoulos asked Vance whether Homan returned the alleged $50,000, prompting Vance to claim Homan never took a bribe. The journalist continued to question whether Homan took the funds at all, while Vance continued to claim no bribery was committed.
“I am sure that in the course of Tom Homan’s life he has been paid more than $50,000 for services,” Vance said. “The question is, did he do something illegal, and there is absolutely no evidence that Tom Homan has ever taken a bribe or done anything illegal.”
But that was not Stephanopoulos’ question, the anchor noted. “He was recorded on an audiotape in September of 2024, an FBI surveillance tape, accepting $50,000 in cash. Did he keep that money?” he asked.
Vance continued to claim there was no evidence of wrongdoing on Homan’s part and that Stephanopoulos’ line of questioning contributed to a national decline in media and why the anchor was “losing credibility.”
“You’re 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,” Vance said, calling the story a “weird left-wing rabbit hole.”
“It’s not a weird left-wing rabbit hole,” Stephanopoulos said. “I didn’t insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50,000 as was heard on an audiotape recorded by the FBI in September 2024, and you did not answer the question. Thank you for your time this morning.”
Before Vance could get another full sentence out, Stephanopoulos cut to a commercial break.
The ABC News anchor, whose interview with a Trump-supporting congresswoman forced Disney to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit with the president, has used his monthly stint as the “This Week” moderator to press Trump officials on various imbroglios either Trump or the White House has faced.
Vance later went to X to complain about the interview, claiming on Sunday the ABC anchor was more interested in a “fake scandal involving Tom Homan” than issues like peace in the Middle East or a government shutdown. His post quoted an X post from the White House’s rapid response team, which claimed “George Slopidopolous” was “obsessing over made-up Fake News BS.”
Vance’s office did not immediate respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
