JD Vance makes Stunning Confession on Live TV

0:00JD Vance:Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy.

0:29Michael Popok:Well, J.D. Vance went on George Stephanopoulos' show and effectively confessed that there is a Tom Homan bribery video. See, George Stephanopoulos kept asking him about audio surveillance. And in response, he said, I don't know what video you're talking about. Thanks, J.D. We can always count on you to make scandals get worse for the Trump administration. Not better, especially when you go on television. I'm Michael Popak. We're covering the Tom Homan bribery scandal because nobody on the right wing will dare to touch it with a 10-foot pole because they've been threatened, I'm sure, by the Trump administration.

1:07Michael Popok:Tom Homan is the border czar. Here are the facts on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Tom Homan was not the border czar in November of 2024, but he was already announced that he was going to be the border czar for Donald Trump. He met with two undercover FBI agents he thought were federal contractors. They met at a restaurant named Kava. There was a$50 ,000 cash shoved into a Kava takeout bag, and it was pushed across the table to Tom Homan. According to the FBI agents and things that have leaked out about it, Tom Homan said, I'm going to keep the money. I'm going to keep the money in my escrow or trust account.

1:46Michael Popok:I'm not going to take the money or use it until I deliver on my promises. The promises were in the exchange for the 50 ,000 that he would help through his role as the borders are direct certain federal contracts to certain vendors represented by what he thought were these two gentlemen who were undercover FBI agents. You know, there's surveillance video and audio. And ever since we learned about those surveillance videos, the Democrats in the Senate have tried to get it. and ultimately there's been a lawsuit filed to get the video and audio. And every time you ask somebody in an administration position, every time you ask somebody in an administration position about whether the audio or video will be released, they act like they don't know what you're talking about.

2:31Michael Popok:They're like, you're not speaking English. We had Pam Bondi in her Senate confirmation here and go, I don't know what audio or video you're talking about. Now we've got J.D. Vance who admits there's a video. Let's run the interview. Tom Homan was recorded on an FBI surveillance tape in September 2024, accepting$50 ,000 in cash. Did he keep that money or give it back?

2:56JD Vance:George, you've covered the story ad nauseum. 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. I think that it would be a much more interesting story about why is it that Tom Homan, who is simply enforcing Americans' immigration laws, is getting constantly harassed and threatened to the point of death threats.

3:36JD Vance:That's a much more interesting question that I think journalists should focus on. we can agree to disagree on that question. You said he didn't take a bribe, but I'm not sure you answered the question. Are you saying that he did not accept the$50 ,000? George, this story has been covered ad nauseum. He did not take a bribe. Did he accept$50 ,000? I'm sure that 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. I'm asking a different question. Which is why he's working in the administration.

4:12I'm asking you, did he accept the$50 ,000 that was caught on the surveillance tape? Did he accept that$50 ,000 or not?

4:20JD Vance:George, I don't know what you're talking about. Did he accept$50 ,000 for what? He was recorded on an audio tape in September 2024, an FBI surveillance tape, accepting$50 ,000 in cash. Did he keep that money? Accepting$50 ,000 for doing what, George? I'm not even sure I understand the question. Is it illegal to take a payment for doing services? The FBI has not prosecuted him. I've never seen any evidence that he's engaged in criminal wrongdoing. Nobody has accused Tom of violating a crime, even the far left media like yourself. So I'm actually not sure what the precise question is. Did he accept$50 ,000?

4:59JD Vance:Honestly, George, I don't know the answer to that question. What I do know is that he didn't violate a crime. So you don't, what was caught on the tape? You're saying right now you don't know whether or not he kept that money. I don't know what tape you're referring to, George. I saw media reports that Tom Homan accepted a bribe. There's no evidence of that. And here's, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program and why you're losing credibility. Because you're talking for now five minutes with the Vice President of the United States about this story regarding Tom Homan, a story that I've read about, but I don't even know the video that you're talking about.

5:36JD Vance:Did you catch it there?

5:38Michael Popok:Stephanopoulos kept saying audio, audio, surveillance, audio. And the J.D. fan said, I don't know what video you're talking about. Because we know there's a video, J.D., and we know you've seen it. But look at the way they're conflating and alighting around in the new language that they're using around the Tom Homan scandal. It's not that he didn't take$50 ,000. It's that he deserved it. It's that he earned it. It's that he kept it. It's that he may have kept it, but it's for something. But it's not illegal, the thing he took it for. Right. The FBI undercover agents portraying federal contractors just gave a gift of taxpayer dollars to Tom Homan, who he's never who's never returned it.

6:23Michael Popok:I want to see Tom Homan's tax returns. I want to see how he's reported that$50 ,000. I want to see how he deposited it in the bank. Because if you deposit in a whole$50 ,000, then the bank has to fill out a suspicious transaction report at STR. And if you bring it in below$50 ,000, let's say you do$9 ,000,$9 ,000,$9 ,000,$9 ,000, whatever, to try to get below the$10 ,000 reporting requirement, that banks have to make to report to the IRS and other things, then you could be guilty of structuring. And that's also a red flag behind a bank. Is it in his mattress? Did he give it to somebody else who deposited it?

7:04Michael Popok:Where? It's not for me, follow the money. But you hear the new version now. The old version was, don't you attack the honesty of Tom Homan? He's been investigated by corrupt Department of Justice, says Pam Bondi, and he's been completely cleared. In other words, he didn't make a promise to return for the$50 ,000. Let's play Pam Bondi back to back a couple of her beauties, a couple of her testimonies at the Senate last week.

7:31JD Vance:What became of the$50 ,000 in cash that the FBI delivered, evidently in a paper bag, to Mr. Holman? Senator, I'd look at your facts. Are you saying that they did not deliver$50 ,000 in cash to Mr. Holman? Senator, as recently stated, the investigation of Mr. Holman was subjected to a full review, they found no evidence of wrongdoing. That's a different question. What became of the$50 ,000? Senator Whitehouse, you're welcome to talk to the FBI. The report to you. Can't you answer this question? Senator Whitehouse, you're welcome to discuss this with Director Patel. Did Homan keep the$50 ,000? As Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently stated, The investigation of Mr.

8:21JD Vance:Holman was a full review by the FBI agents and the DOJ. They found no credible evidence of wrongdoing. I do want to go back to Holman. You know, there's a tape, right, with Mr. Holman? I mean, first of all, is there a tape that has audio and video of the transfer of the 50 ,000? You would have to talk to Director Patel about that. No, I'm talking to you. I don't know the answer, Senator. Yet you do know the answer to that. Don't call me a liar. I didn't call you a liar. You just said I know the answer. I said I don't know the answer. You have to talk to Director Patel. What I said is that investigation was closed.

9:03If you don't know, why don't you know whether there was a tape and video? Senator, I believe that was resolved prior to my confirmation as Attorney General. Do you think that it is of public interest for the people to know what happened to the 50 grand that the FBI turned over to Homan? Did you hear what I just said? That was resolved prior to my confirmation as attorney general. That's why I said I would not know. It's not resolved. There's$50 ,000. Homan has it or somebody has it. Do you have no interest in knowing where it is? You're not going to sit here and slander Tom Homan. And the FBI and Deputy Director Blanche said there was nothing.

9:48I'm not slamming Tom Homan. He got to 50 grand. How do you know that? Tom Homan is doing a great job, as our borders are, keeping your border state safe.

9:58Michael Popok:Now, Tom Homan hasn't helped himself out either, as we know, because when he was hit with the question, he didn't deny taking the money. In fact, he doubled down that he was entitled to the money. Let's play that clip. I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal. I did nothing wrong. And this is a series of hits against me since the beginning of the year. There's been hit pieces about every week. There was a hit piece on my security detail saying I had 30, 31 security detail. I'm wasting millions of dollars. I had about a fraction, a quarter of that. I think I had eight security detail at the time.

10:29I had a four-car caravan. I had two. Another story about I'm helping certain companies with contracts. Here's what people need to understand. Day one of the administration, when President Trump asked me to come back, and we entered on duty. I met with ethics attorneys, and by law, you're supposed to recuse yourself from any company you had affiliations with before. But I took it a step further. I recused myself from all federal contracts. I won't have any decision-making in any federal contract, but people, including this recent case, people are saying, I'm going to line the pockets of people.

11:03The hit pieces keep coming, but I know who's chumming the water. I know who keeps throwing this information out, and the media jumps all over it. And they're going to say some legal actions real soon. I'm working on a legal team. I'm done with it.

11:15Michael Popok:Now, once again, we got an ABC White House problem. It's really an ABC problem for the White House. ABC infamously paid$15 million several years ago when George Stephanopoulos, during an interview with E. Gene Carroll, called Donald Trump a rapist when he should have called him, apparently, a sex abuser. E. Jean Carroll in her trial, 9-0 in front of a jury, federal jury in New York, proved that Donald Trump had sexually abused her. The only reason it wasn't rape under New York law is because at the time, in order to prove rape as a crime, you needed to show that the assailant put his penis inside of the woman.

12:07Michael Popok:Any other type of penetration did not count as rape. It does now. It didn't then. So the highest crime that Donald Trump could have been charged with, and that was the focus of a civil trial, was sex abuse. But I don't think jumping up and down, like if you were at a party and somebody pointed their finger at you in the middle of a cocktail party and said, you're a rapist, I don't think yelling back, no, I'm not. I'm a sex abuser. I don't think that helps you. See my point? But to ABC, who was worried about the incoming Trump administration, they quickly stroked a check for$15 million, the equivalent of George Stephanopoulos' salary.

12:45Michael Popok:And that's going for some sort of presidential library, you know what I mean, for Donald Trump. And then once you bend the knee, you better just stay down, just stay down on the knee because you're going to have to do it again. Fast forward to Jimmy Kimmel several weeks ago. ABC again. ABC's got a lot of complicated relationships with its TV affiliates, because the affiliates are how you see television. The broadcaster is ABC. The affiliates, and many of them owned by right-wing, Christian right ownership blocks like Sinclair, some of them were in negotiations with the White House and the Federal Communications Commission over a huge$6.2 billion transaction that needed the White House approval.

13:32Michael Popok:through Brendan Carr, the FCC chairperson that is a major MAGA-Trumper Project 2025 person. So, of course, Brendan Carr, right on cue, attacked ABC. I'm going to take your license away if you keep Jimmy Kimmel on, because Jimmy Kimmel made a comment about Charlie Kirk. Apparently, dissent is the equivalent of disloyalty, and you must be taken out in the back and shot. So, ABC folds again, doesn't pay any dime, doesn't pay a stroke of check this time, but takes Jimmy off the air for a couple of days until the public responded, Hulu subscribers responded, Hollywood responded, and suddenly ABC said, okay, Jimmy, come on back.

14:14Michael Popok:Now you got another George Stephanopoulos problem. We'll see what they're going to do. I mean, they're owned by Disney. It's hard to believe that Disney is the same company that in the first term stood up against Donald Trump about the LGBTQ plus community. It's hard to believe this is the same company. But, you know, a lot has changed the last five years post-COVID, and that's where we're at. But, you know, I can always count on J.D. Vance. He goes on to talk about the Epstein scandal. He makes it worse. He goes on and talks about, you know, the Tom Homan bribery scandal. He tries to tap dance his way around.

14:49Michael Popok:Taking$50 ,000 isn't a bribe. It's just an accepting in cash. He's allowed to have cash. I'm sure he's taking another$50 ,000 in paper bags at a restaurant. Audio, audio, audio. I don't know about audio. There is a video of Tom Holman, but I don't think you're entitled to it. Just as a side note, P.S., Democracy Forward, which has about 90 different lawsuits against the Trump administration and is winning at about a 90 percent clip has a new lawsuit to get the video slash audio surveillance tape. It's in federal court in D.C. I've had Sky Perryman on to talk to me about it. We're going to see exactly the judge assigned.

15:29Michael Popok:And then this was off of a Freedom of Information Act request that was rejected by the Trump administration. But now here we are with a lawsuit to get the tape. Thanks for telling us that one exists, J.D. Vance. We can always count on you. I'm Michael Popok. We can count on you here on Midas Touch and Legal AF. Take a minute, come over to Legal AF Substack, hit the free subscribe button and help us with our Legal AF YouTube channel as well. So until my next report, this is Michael. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack.

16:07Michael Popok:You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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