WATCH: George Stephanopoulos Lashes Out, Abruptly Ends Interview With VP Vance
ABC News host George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended an interview with Vice President JD Vance before he could get a chance to answer a question about White House border czar Tom Homan.
The interview started out with a discussion on the ceasefire deal in the Israel-Gaza conflict, but quickly turned contentious when Stephanopoulos referenced a story from left-leaning outlet ProPublica, which accused White House border czar Tom Homan of accepting “bribes.”
According to veteran reporter Julie Kelly, the Biden Justice Department’s public integrity unit set up a “sing operation” in an attempt to monitor Homan, who was not yet a government official. The Trump Campaign had made it known that Homan would play a significant role in the administration’s deportation efforts, however.
The “undercover operation” in question concerned the hiring of third-party contractors to assist with deportation operations should Trump be elected, something that is standard in government. ProPublica described the conversation as Homan accepting a “bribe.”
“Even prosecutors agreed there was no bribery crime and they’d have to wait to see if Homan acted on it once back in government,” Kelly noted.
The story has failed to gain traction outside left-wing media circles, though Stephanopoulos decided to ask the vice president about it during Sunday’s 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?”
Vance responded by noting that the Biden Justice Department found no evidence that Homan “took a bribe,” calling the story a “ridiculous smear.”
“I’m not sure you answered the question. Are you saying that he did not accept the $50,000?” the ABC host followed up, prompting a similar response from Vance. “He did not take a bribe. Did he accept $50,000? 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 that Tom Homan has ever taken a bribe,” he said.
Stephanopoulos continued to press on the issue, however, setting up a back-and-forth in which Vance continuously reiterated that there is no evidence to support any allegations of bribery.
“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 United States about this story regarding Tom Homan, a story that I’ve read about, but I don’t even know the video that you’re talking about,” the vice president declared.
A visibly annoyed Stephanopoulos responded by accusing Vance of failing to answer the question before abruptly ending the interview. “It’s 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 audiotape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. And you did not answer the question. Thank you for your time this morning,” he said, cutting the vice president off before he could have a chance to respond.
The exchange comes on the heels of a $15 million defamation settlement ABC News reached with President Trump in December. The settlement, which included a formal retraction and apology, was reached after Stephanopoulos repeatedly advanced the false claim that Trump was found to have “raped” a woman in reference to the highly controversial defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll.