Vice President JD Vance pushed back when ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos tried to make their Sunday morning interview about an FBI surveillance tape that allegedly showed Border Czar Tom Homan accepting $50,000 in cash.
Vance defended Homan, but then also chastised Stephanopoulos for fixating on a “ridiculous smear” and a “bogus story” rather than using his time to address the issues that were impacting Americans on a day-to-day basis.
“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?” Stephanopoulos began the segment.
“George, you’ve covered the story ad nauseum,” Vance pushed back. “Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear. And the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law. I think it’s really preposterous. I know Tom, I think that he’s a good man. He gets death threats, he gets attacked, he gets constantly threatened by people because he has the audacity to want to enforce the country’s immigration laws. I think that it would be a much more interesting story about why is it that Tom Homan, who is simply enforcing America’s immigration laws, is getting constantly harassed and threatened to the point of death threats? That’s a much more interesting question that I think journalists should focus on. We can agree to disagree on that question.”
Stephanopoulos tried again to push the question with his framing: “Well, wait, you said he didn’t take a bribe, but I’m not sure you answered the question. Are you saying that he did not accept the $50,000?”
The exchange continued in that vein — and Stephnopoulos tried several other iterations of the same question: “So you don’t — what was caught on the tape, you’re saying right now you don’t know whether or not he kept that money?”
WATCH:
.@VP nukes George Slopidopolous for obsessing over made-up Fake News BS while not asking a single question about the Democrat Shutdown: “Here’s, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program…”
George gets big mad, cuts @VP off, and goes to commercial 🤣 pic.twitter.com/VVm2FV5ujd
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 12, 2025
“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,” Vance argued. “And 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.”
Vance went on to suggest that there were far more important stories that ABC would do well to cover — issues like the government shutdown, driven by Democrats, that were impacting regular Americans from day to day.
“Low-income women can’t get food because the Democrats and Chuck Schumer have shut down the government. Right now, we’re trying to figure out how to pay our troops because Chuck Schumer has shut down the government. You are 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 is shut down,” he said. “Let’s talk about the real issues, George. 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.”
“It’s not a weird left-wing rabbit hole,” Stephanopoulos objected before bringing the segment to a close. “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.”
