Trump Refuses to Take Question From ABC Reporter, Citing Vance Interview

President Donald J. Trump refused to take a question from an ABC News correspondent during a White House press conference Tuesday, blasting the network as “fake news” and citing its recent interview with Vice President JD Vance as proof of ongoing media bias.

“After what you did with Stephanopoulos and the vice president of the United States, I don’t take questions from ABC fake news,” President Trump said during a joint event with Argentine President Javier Milei. When the reporter persisted, Trump shut him down again: “You’re ABC fake news. Brian, go ahead,” he said, moving on to another journalist.

The confrontation came just days after a heated exchange between ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos and Vice President Vance on This Week. Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed Vance about an unproven MSNBC report claiming former Border Czar Tom Homan had accepted a $50,000 bribe — a story federal investigators later dismissed.

According to the MSNBC report, FBI surveillance audio allegedly captured Homan taking cash from undercover agents posing as business executives in September 2024. The agents supposedly offered help obtaining government contracts if Trump won re-election.

But the Department of Justice ultimately declined to bring charges, and FBI Director Kash Patel closed the matter earlier this year, citing “insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.”

During the tense ABC interview, Stephanopoulos repeatedly pushed Vance to say whether Homan had “returned the money.” The vice president called the entire story “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 abruptly ended the interview after accusing Vance of dodging the question. “It’s not a weird left-wing rabbit hole,” the anchor said. “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 quickly went viral, drawing strong reactions from across the political spectrum. Critics accused Stephanopoulos of partisan grandstanding, while left-leaning pundits claimed Vance was avoiding accountability.

At the White House on Tuesday, President Trump made clear he viewed the interview as another example of the corporate media’s double standard. The president has long accused ABC of political bias and has frequently referred to Stephanopoulos mockingly as “Slopadopolus.”

In 2024, Trump sued both ABC and Stephanopoulos for defamation after the anchor falsely stated that Trump had been found liable for “raping” writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not rape, in that civil case. ABC later settled the lawsuit for $15 million and issued a public apology earlier this year.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Trump has drastically reshaped media access, favoring outlets that engage honestly over those he considers partisan. Reporters from ABC, CNN, and The New York Times are frequently skipped during press events, while conservative journalists and independent commentators have been granted expanded access and questioning privileges.

Vice President Vance later took to X to call out Stephanopoulos for chasing “a fake scandal involving Tom Homan” instead of addressing real issues.

“The media are obsessed with made-up Fake News,” Vance wrote, reposting a message from the White House’s rapid-response team that referred to the ABC host as “George Slopidopolous.”

As Trump continues his second term, his long-running feud with establishment media shows no sign of cooling — and Tuesday’s exchange was just the latest reminder that the days of deference to the corporate press are over in Washington.