Vance says ABC anchor focusing on 'fake scandal involving Tom Homan'

Vice President Vance accused ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos of caring about a "fake scandal" regarding White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday. 

Stephanopoulos, during Sunday morning's edition of This Week, asked Vance whether Homan kept or returned the reported $50,000 bribe. Vance deflected, saying the media is “going after” Homan “because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law.”

“You're 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 shut down,” Vance added. 

The vice president also blamed Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the shutdown, saying that as a result, low-income women are struggling to buy food and members of the military will not receive their next paychecks on Oct. 15. 

Stephanopoulos then ended the interview, cutting Vance off and going to break. In a post on the social platform X later Sunday, Vance said that the ABC anchor “doesn’t care” about stories such as Israel and Hamas agreeing to phase one of a peace deal proposed by the Trump administration, the effects of Chinese rare earth and magnet restrictions on global supply chains and the ongoing shutdown. 

“[Stephanopoulos is] here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan,” the vice president added.

Homan, according to multiple reports, accepted the sum last September from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives, in exchange for assistance receiving government contracts if President Trump returned to office. 

The White House and Homan have denied wrongdoing, with the Justice Department (DOJ) closing the case after Trump took office. FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General told the New York Times last month that prosecutors found “no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing” by Homan.