Vice President JD Vance sparred with ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, denying allegations that border czar Tom Homan accepted a bribe and accusing the anchor of “losing credibility.” The tense exchange ended with Stephanopoulos abruptly cutting off the interview.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos pressed Vance repeatedly on reports that Homan was caught on an FBI surveillance recording in September 2024 allegedly accepting $50,000 in cash.
“Tom Homan was recorded on an audiotape … accepting $50,000 in cash,” Stephanopoulos said. “Did he take that money?”
Vance pushed back hard, saying the claim was baseless. “I don’t know what tape you’re referring to, George. I saw media reports that Tom Homan accepted a bribe. There’s no evidence of that,” he replied. “And here's 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 … that I don’t even know the video you’re talking about.”
Vance accused the ABC host of ignoring more pressing issues, like the Middle East peace deal and the ongoing government shutdown. “You’re going down some weird left-wing rabbit hole,” he added, “where the facts clearly show that Tom Homan didn’t engage in any criminal wrongdoing.”
Stephanopoulos fired back, insisting the question was legitimate. “It’s not a weird left-wing rabbit hole,” he 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.” He then ended the segment, thanking Vance for his time as the vice president tried to respond again.
After the exchange aired, Vance took to X to criticize Stephanopoulos for focusing on what he called a “fake scandal.”
“George S doesn’t care about that,” Vance wrote. “He’s here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan.”
The controversy stems from a September 2024 MSNBC report that claimed Homan had accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives who believed they could secure contracts under a second Trump administration. The FBI later said the investigation was closed, and the White House maintained that Homan never accepted the money.
At the time, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the report, calling it politically motivated. “Mr. Homan never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to, so you should get your facts straight,” she said. “This was another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters.”
Leavitt added that the FBI’s actions amounted to an “attempted entrapment” of a Trump ally, emphasizing that “Mr. Homan did absolutely nothing wrong.”