The news anchor became frustrated when the vice president refused to directly answer questions about border czar Tom Homan
NEED TO KNOW
- This Week’ anchor George Stephanopoulos pulled the plug on a recent interview with Vice President JD Vance when Vance refused to answer a specific question
- When asked about Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who was recently accused of a bribery scandal, Vance evaded the issue, telling Stephanopoulos he was ‘losing credibility’ for even asking
- Vance attempted to retort, but the anchor simply thanked him for his time, cutting him off and throwing the show to commercial break
Vice President JD Vance had a tense interview with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Oct. 12, which led to the This Week anchor cutting Vance off and sending the show to commercial break.
During their interview, Stephanopoulos attempted to ask the vice president about recent allegations against President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan. Last month, the New York Times reported that Homan was part of an F.B.I. sting in which he accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover agents posing as businessmen interested in securing government contracts.
Homan has denied the allegations of corruption, telling NewsNation in September, “I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal.” Still, members of the Trump administration have continued to evade questions about the controversy.
When Stephanopoulos asked Vance about Homan — who was reportedly captured on video accepting the cash bribe last year — the vice president fired back with criticism about the anchor’s line of questioning.
“And here’s, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program, and why you’re losing credibility,” Vance said. “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.”
He continued, “Meanwhile, low-income women can’t get food because the Democrats and Chuck Schumer have shut down the government.”
Monday marked the start of the third week of the government shutdown, as the Senate continues to fail to compromise on a federal budget. In a speech from the Senate floor on Thursday, Oct. 9, Schumer said that “each day, [Democrats’] case to fix health care and end the shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger.”
“Donald Trump, Speaker [Mike] Johnson and Republicans in Congress are nowhere to be found,” he said, pressuring the three GOP leaders to “sit down with Democrats and have a serious negotiation.”
Telling Stephanopoulos to focus on “the real issues” rather than a “bogus story,” Vance added, “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 defended his question, 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,” he added, cutting Vance off. “Thank you for your time this morning.”
When Vance protested, saying, “No, George, I said…” the host cut him off once again and threw the show to a commercial.
Despite being taken off the air, Vance continued his criticism of Stephanopoulos in a post on X later in the day.
“Peace in the Middle East? China threatening critical supply chains? Government shutdown? George S doesn’t care about that,” he wrote. “He’s here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan.”
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Vance also recently caught some on-air heat from Jimmy Kimmel, who returned to his late-night show on Sept. 29, following a brief suspension over comments he made about the death of Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel mocked clips of Vance criticizing his show and its return, calling him “Vice President Maybelline.”
“I have some good news for you, J Dog,” he taunted. “We’re back on all the stations at every home, every bar, every strip club and every prison in America.”
