JD Vance clashes with George Stephanopoulos over Tom Homan bribery scandal: 'A ridiculous smear'

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos clashed on Sunday over border czar Tom Homan and the $50,000 he allegedly accepted from undercover FBI agents last year.

At one point, Vance lashed out at Stephanopoulos, telling him, “why fewer and fewer people watch your program,” during an appearance on 'This Week.'

JD Vance denies Tom Homan's bribery allegation 

Referring to White House border czar Tom Homan, who was recorded on an FBI surveillance tape in September 2024 accepting $50,000 in cash, Stephanopoulos asked, "Did he keep that money or give it back?"

Vance dismissed the claims, saying, “George, you’ve covered the story ad nauseum. Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear.” He continued, “And the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law."

He continued, "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."

Vance added, "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.”  

JD Vance defends Tom Homan amid FBI bribery tape questions

When Stephanopoulos pressed Vance on whether Homan actually accepted the bribe despite Vance’s denial, Vance insisted, “George, this story has been covered ad nauseum. He did not take a bribe."

Vance said, "Did he accept $50,000? I’m sure that in the course of Tom Homan’s life, he has been paid more than $50,000 for services. The question is, did he do something illegal? And there’s absolutely no evidence that Tom Homan has ever taken a bribe or done anything illegal, which is why he’s working in the administration.”

Stephanopoulos again stressed his question about whether Homan took the bribe, citing the surveillance tape, to which Vance said that he didn’t know and questioned the context of the payment. “Is it illegal to take a payment for doing services?

Vance continued, "The FBI has not prosecuted him. I’ve never seen any evidence that he’s engaged in criminal wrongdoing. Nobody has accused Tom of violating a crime, even the far-left media like yourself. So I’m actually not sure what the precise question is. Did he accept $50,000? Honestly, George, I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that he didn’t violate a crime.”

JD Vance calls bribery claims a distraction from national issues

After a final repeated question on whether or not Homan accepted the money, Vance hit back at Stephanopoulos for focusing on unproven claims, calling it “a bogus story” and a distraction from real issues like government shutdowns affecting low-income Americans and military funding because of Democrats.

He argued that Homan did nothing wrong and accused the host of losing credibility by pursuing what he called a left-wing narrative instead of addressing pressing national problems.

Stephanopoulos concluded by denying the left-wing label, saying that he hadn’t initiated anything. He further clarified that he was asking whether Tom Homan accepted $50,000, citing the FBI-recorded audiotape from last year, and noted that the question went unanswered before ending the segment.