ABC’s George Stephanopoulos cut off JD Vance during ‘This Week’ interview

On Oct. 12, 2025, U.S Vice President JD Vance’s appearance on ABC’s “This Week” ended abruptly during a discussion about White House border czar Tom Homan, who had been accused of accepting a $50,000 bribe to help undercover agents “win government contracts in a second Trump administration,” according to a report MSNBC published in September.

During that discussion, Vance redirected host George Stephanopoulos’ questions about what he knew about Homan and the reported bribe to talk about the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which Vance blamed on Democrats. 

According to the episode transcript, Stephanopoulos ended the interview after Vance accused the host of “going down some weird left-wing rabbit hole.” Stephanopoulos thanked the vice president and cut to a commercial break as Vance continued speaking.

Following the show, social media users reposted footage of the end of the interview. While some praised (archived) Stephanopoulos’ apparent decision to cut to commercials, others criticized him.

The X account Right Angle News Network, which featured a red elephant, the political symbol of the Republican Party, in its profile banner, wrote (archived), “BREAKING – Viewers are demanding an apology from George Stephanopoulos and ABC for cutting off Vice President JD Vance and going to commercial after Vance exposed him for lying about Tom Homan, saying, ‘Here’s, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program.’”

Claims that Stephanopoulos “cut off” Vance and opinions on the decision to end the segment also circulated on Facebook, Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and Reddit. 

The full Oct. 12 episode of “This Week” to YouTube showed Stephanopoulos ending the interview with Vance while the vice president was speaking to go to a commercial break, a fact also reflected in ABC’s transcript. Given the above, we rate the claim that Stephanopoulos cut Vance off after the vice president deflected a question about border czar Tom Homan true.

According to the show’s transcript, which corresponded to the video of the show, the interaction between Vance and Stephanopoulos went as follows: 

VANCE: Let’s talk about the real issues, George. 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.

STEPHANOPOULOS: 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.

Thank you for your time this morning.

VANCE: No, George, I said that I don’t —

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: — is up next. We’ll be right back.

Snopes reached out to ABC to ask why Stephanopoulos decided to end Vance’s interview when he did. We also asked the vice president’s office whether it had received an explanation for the abrupt end to the interview. We await replies to our queries.

Vance was not the only guest on the Oct. 12 “This Week” episode whose interview directly preceded a commercial break. Stephanopoulos also interviewed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, about topics including the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order on Oct. 10 that stalled the Trump administration’s planned deployment to the Illinois city.

Pritzker’s interview also ended with Stephanopoulos thanking the governor for his time and cutting to commercials.