George Stephanopoulos Shuts Down Interview With Sen. J.D. Vance

Sen. J.D. Vance’s interview on ABC’s “This Week” gets cut short after he made a comment implying he believes Trump can defy the Supreme Court.

During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) Sunday, George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended the interview after Vance implied that Donald Trump can defy Supreme Court rulings.

“The Constitution says that the Supreme Court can make rulings, but if the Supreme Court ― and look, I hope that they would not do this ― but if the Supreme Court said that the president of the United States can’t fire a general, that would be an illegitimate ruling and the president has to have Article 2 prerogative under the Constitution to actually run the military as he sees fit,” Vance said.

Vance’s comment was made after Stephanopoulos asked Vance about his comments on a 2021 podcast, where Vance said that if Trump is reelected in 2024, he would advise Trump to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people,” according to ABC News, and then when the courts tried to stop Trump, he should “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did, and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”

Stephanopoulos pressed Vance regarding his comments to “fire every civil servant,” which Vance denied, instead claiming he just said “the mid-level bureaucrats.”

Vance said there was a “major problem” with administrators and bureaucrats “who don’t respond to the elected branches.”

Stephanopoulos then asked Vance if it was OK for the president to defy the Supreme Court, to which Vance responded that if the Supreme Court said the president couldn’t fire a general, then it would be an “illegitimate ruling.”

After Vance was finished with his answer, Stephanopoulos said, “You’ve made it very clear: You believe the president can defy the Supreme Court.”

Stephanopoulos thanked Vance for his time, while Vance could be heard saying, “No, no, George.” Stephanopoulos then cut to another segment and Vance’s audio went mute.

Vance and Stephanopoulos spoke about an array of things, including whether Vance would have certified the results of the 2020 election if he was vice president; former President Donald Trump’s sexual assault case, which he was found liable; and why Vance changed his stance on Trump since 2016, when he said Trump was not fit for office.

Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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