ABC News host George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended an interview with Vice President JD Vance after pressing him about allegations involving White House border czar Tom Homan.
The exchange quickly escalated after Stephanopoulos raised a claim published by the left-leaning outlet ProPublica that accused Homan of accepting “bribes.”
The interview began with a discussion about the ceasefire deal in the Israel–Gaza conflict.
The conversation, however, took a turn when Stephanopoulos brought up the report linking Homan to a supposed bribery incident.
The ProPublica story alleged that Homan accepted $50,000 in cash during an undercover operation recorded by the FBI in 2024, Resist the Mainstream previously outlined.
The Biden Justice Department’s public integrity unit had organized what she described as a “sting operation” to monitor Homan before he joined the Trump administration, according to veteran reporter Julie Kelly.
At the time, Homan was not a government official.
The Trump campaign had already announced that Homan would play a major role in future deportation operations if Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The operation allegedly involved the hiring of third-party contractors to assist with deportation efforts should Trump be elected.
Kelly said the practice was standard for government planning and did not indicate any criminal conduct. Nonetheless, ProPublica characterized the exchange as a possible “bribe.”
Kelly also reported that prosecutors themselves concluded there was no bribery crime.
“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,” she noted.
Stephanopoulos decided to question Vance about it during the Sunday broadcast, asking, “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?”
Vice President Vance immediately pushed back, stating that the Biden Justice Department had found no evidence that Homan “took a bribe.”
He called the report a “ridiculous smear,” suggesting it was based on an unsubstantiated claim.
Stephanopoulos followed up, saying, “I’m not sure you answered the question. Are you saying that he did not accept the $50,000?”
Vance replied, “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.”
The ABC host continued to press the issue, leading to a tense back-and-forth.
Vance repeatedly maintained that there was no credible evidence supporting the bribery allegation and criticized the network for focusing on it.
During the heated exchange, Vance said, “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, a story that I’ve read about, but I don’t even know the video that you’re talking about.”
A visibly annoyed Stephanopoulos then accused Vance of failing to answer the question.
He defended his line of questioning, saying, “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 then cut off the interview before the veep could respond further.
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