Vice President JD Vance faced intense scrutiny during contentious television interviews on Sunday, October 12, 2025, culminating in an unprecedented moment when ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos cut the vice president’s microphone and ended the interview abruptly after heated exchanges over the ongoing Tom Homan bribery scandal.
The dramatic confrontation occurred after Vance appeared on multiple Sunday morning political programs, sparring with both NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker and later with Stephanopoulos over questions regarding Donald Trump’s Department of Justice prosecutions and allegations surrounding border czar Tom Homan.
During the NBC interview earlier that morning, Welker pressed Vance about recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. She questioned whether the Department of Justice was acting on orders from the president to prosecute his political opponents, referencing reports about a Trump social media post that was allegedly meant as a direct message to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Vance defended the administration’s position, indicating that the president is allowed to have opinions about federal law enforcement as the chief executive officer of the federal government. He maintained that having opinions does not mean prosecuting people unless there is legal justification to do so. Welker continued to challenge Vance’s defense of National Guard deployments in American cities and the Trump DOJ’s prosecutions, though that interview concluded on more agreeable terms.
The situation escalated significantly during Vance’s appearance on “This Week” with Stephanopoulos, who had recently been at the center of a Trump defamation lawsuit that ABC settled for $15 million. The ABC host aggressively questioned Vance about the Homan bribery allegations and criticized what he characterized as the vice president’s evasiveness.
When pressed about whether Homan had accepted $50,000 as reportedly captured on an FBI audio recording from September 2024, Vance stated unequivocally that Homan did not take a bribe, while acknowledging he may have received money from agents conducting a sting operation for legitimate reasons. The vice president argued that taking payment for services is not inherently illegal and noted that the FBI had not prosecuted Homan.
Tensions reached a breaking point when Vance accused Stephanopoulos of pursuing what he called a “weird left-wing rabbit hole” and characterized the anchor as representing “far-left media.” He questioned the premise of the inquiry, stating that nobody had actually accused Homan of committing a crime, even among what he termed far-left media outlets.
Stephanopoulos responded by cutting Vance’s microphone and abruptly ending the interview. “You did not answer the question,” the host declared before thanking Vance for his time and throwing to commercial break over the vice president’s continued objections. The unprecedented move marked a dramatic conclusion to what had been described as a contentious tour of Sunday press shows for the vice president.
The confrontation highlighted ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and mainstream media outlets, particularly regarding coverage of the Homan scandal and Justice Department activities. Stephanopoulos had specifically asked whether Homan accepted the $50,000 payment as allegedly documented in the FBI recording, but Vance’s response focused on broader defenses rather than directly addressing the specific allegation.
The interviews occurred amid broader scrutiny of the Trump administration’s use of federal law enforcement agencies and questions about potential political motivations behind recent prosecutions. The Homan bribery investigation has become a significant political liability for the administration, with Democrats and some media outlets calling for greater transparency about the border czar’s financial dealings.
