ABC Host Pulls Plug on JD Vance Interview Mid-Sentence
The ABC News mainstay sparred with the vice president over claims Border Czar Tom Homan accepted bribes to lobby for government contracts.
One of Donald Trump’s most loathed nemesis in the media abruptly cut off JD Vance during a live interview Sunday morning.
ABC News host George Stephanopoulos was speaking with the vice president about bribery allegations against the MAGA administration’s Border Czar Tom Homan when the host interrupted Vance mid-sentence to announce the network would be cutting to commercial.
“I think the American people would benefit much more from [talking about the shutdown] 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,” Vance told Stephanopoulos on This Week.
Vance and Stephanopoulos sparred over bribery allegations against Homan.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
The host shot back that their interview was by that point already almost over. “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 audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024, and you did not answer the question,” he said. “Thank you for your time this morning.”
“No, George, I said…” Vance attempted to counter, before Stephanopoulos told viewers, “We’ll be right back.”

Trump sued Stephanopoulos for defamation last March.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The incident is unlikely to sit well with the Trump administration. Last March, the MAGA leader sued Stephanopoulos and ABC News after the host claimed on-air that “judges and two separate juries have found [Trump] liable for rape.”
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His comments pertain to a sexual assault and defamation lawsuit brought against Trump by journalist E. Jean Carroll. A jury found Trump civilly liable for sexual abuse, but not rape per the technical definition of the term under New York law.
Following Trump’s victory in the November polls, Stephanopoulos and ABC News agreed to settle the claim, with ABC paying $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library, as well as $1 million in legal fees to the president’s attorneys.
The allegations against Homan, meanwhile, refer to an undercover FBI sting carried out in September 2024. Bureau agents posing as businesspeople are alleged to have handed Homan a bag containing $50,000 in cash after Homan allegedly agreeing to help them secure government contracts if Trump won the election.
The sting reportedly stemmed from a broader corruption investigation. A separate target allegedly suggested Homan may have been soliciting payments for contracts, though he was not in public office at the time. The White House has denied Homan took the funds, and Homan himself has denied any illegal conduct. The case has since been closed.
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