Vice President JD Vance and George Stephanopoulos engaged in a tense back-and-forth on This Week Sunday, Oct. 12, culminating in the host cutting Vance off and moving the show to a commercial break.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos pressed Vance about recent allegations involving President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan. The New York Times recently reported that Homan allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking government contracts.
Homan has denied the claims, telling NewsNation in September, “I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal.” Despite his denial, members of the Trump administration have largely avoided addressing the controversy.
When Stephanopoulos asked about Homan — who was reportedly recorded on video accepting the cash — Vance responded with frustration over the topic.
“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.”
The remarks came as the federal government entered its third week of shutdown, with Congress still unable to agree on a budget. In a Senate speech on Thursday, Oct. 9, Sen. Chuck Schumer said, “Each day, our 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,” Schumer added, urging GOP leaders to “sit down with Democrats and have a serious negotiation.”
Vance pushed back against Stephanopoulos’ questions, saying the host should focus on “real issues” instead of what he called “a bogus story.”
“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,” he said.
Stephanopoulos defended his question, replying, “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 said, before ending the exchange. “Thank you for your time this morning.”
When Vance tried to respond — “No, George, I said…” — Stephanopoulos cut him off again and went to commercial.
Later that day, Vance continued his criticism of the host on X (formerly Twitter), writing:
“Peace in the Middle East? China threatening critical supply chains? Government shutdown? George S doesn’t care about that. He’s here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan.”
Vance has also recently been targeted by Jimmy Kimmel, who mocked him during his Sept. 29 return to late-night television after a brief suspension over comments about Charlie Kirk’s death.
Kimmel aired clips of Vance criticizing his show and jokingly dubbed him “Vice President Maybelline.”
“I have some good news for you, J Dog,” Kimmel said. “We’re back on all the stations at every home, every bar, every strip club and every prison in America.”
