Vice President JD Vance said he doesn’t know about a recording of border czar Tom Homan reportedly accepting a $50,000 bribe from undercover FBI agents in September 2024.
After George Stephanopoulos asked Vance if Homan kept the $50,000, Vance called the story a “ridiculous smear.”
“George, you’ve covered this story ad nauseam,” Vance said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear, and the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law. 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 said journalists should instead report on why Homan gets death threats for enforcing the law.
Last month, MSNBC reported that Homan was being investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents who were posing as business executives looking to secure government contracts in President Donald Trump’s second administration. Once Trump became president, however, the investigation was dropped.
The FBI initially launched the investigation in 2024. In September of that same year, Homan was caught on camera accepting the $50,000.
On Sunday, Vance denied Homan took any bribes.
“He did not take a bribe,” Vance said. “Did he accept $50,000? I’m sure 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 anything illegal, which is why he’s working in the administration.”
Vance said there is “no evidence” that Homan accepted a bribe, adding that “he didn’t violate a crime.”
Vance then went on to attack Stephanopoulos’ news program for reporting on a “bogus story” that came from a “weird left-wing rabbit hole” and “insinuating criminal wrongdoing against” Homan, who has “done nothing wrong.”
Stephanopoulos shot back, saying it’s “not a weird left-wing rabbit hole.”
“I didn’t insinuate anything,” Stephanopoulos said. “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.”
Stephanopoulos thanked Vance for his time before ending the segment.