President Donald Trump refused to take a question from an ABC News reporter at a White House event Tuesday, denouncing the network as “fake news” in response to a recent interview between ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos and Vice President JD Vance.
“After what you did with Stephanopoulos and the vice president of the United States, I don’t take questions from ABC fake news,” Trump said when an ABC correspondent attempted to ask a question during a joint press event with Argentine President Javier Milei.
“You’re ABC fake news. Brian, go ahead,” Trump added, calling on a different reporter instead.
The incident occurred just two days after a contentious exchange between Stephanopoulos and Vance on This Week, ABC’s Sunday political affairs program.
The anchor repeatedly pressed the vice president about an alleged $50,000 bribe involving former Border Czar Tom Homan, an issue first reported by MSNBC last month.
According to that report, FBI surveillance audio recorded in September 2024 appeared to capture Homan accepting $50,000 in cash from undercover agents posing as business executives.
The agents claimed they were promised help securing government contracts if Trump won re-election.
The Department of Justice ultimately declined to bring charges, and FBI Director Kash Patel closed the investigation earlier this year, citing “insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.”
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During the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Vance several times whether Homan had returned the money or kept it. Vance denied that Homan had taken a bribe, calling the report a “left-wing rabbit hole.”
“I am sure that in the course of Tom Homan’s life he has been paid more than $50,000 for services,” Vance said. “The question is, did he do something illegal? And there is absolutely no evidence that Tom Homan has ever taken a bribe or done anything illegal.”
Stephanopoulos ended the interview after when Vance pushed back while claiming, “It’s not a weird left-wing rabbit hole. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50,000 as was heard on an audiotape recorded by the FBI … and you did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.”
The exchange sparked heated reactions online and across political circles. Critics said Vance sidestepped a legitimate question, while allies accused Stephanopoulos of political bias.
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump used the interview as a new flashpoint in his ongoing feud with ABC News, which dates back to his first term. The president has long criticized Stephanopoulos personally — often referring to him derisively as “Slopadopolus” — and accused the network of unfair coverage of his administration.
In 2024, Trump sued ABC News and Stephanopoulos for defamation after the anchor stated on air that Trump had been found liable for “raping” writer E. Jean Carroll. The former president was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape, in a civil case. ABC settled the lawsuit for $15 million and issued a public apology earlier this year.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has significantly reduced traditional media access at the White House. Reporters from major outlets, including ABC, CNN, and The New York Times, are often skipped during press events, while conservative commentators and independent digital journalists have been granted expanded seating and questioning privileges.
Vance later addressed the controversy on X, accusing Stephanopoulos of focusing on “a fake scandal involving Tom Homan” rather than on what he called “real issues” such as the government shutdown and foreign policy.
“The media are obsessed with made-up Fake News,” Vance wrote, reposting a message from the White House’s rapid-response account that referred to the ABC anchor as “George Slopidopolous.“