Donald Trump and JD Vance; George Stephanopoulos

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) mocked ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, calling him “Slopadopoulos” during a meeting with Argentine leader Javier Milei at the White House. The jibe was over a recent interview Stephanopoulos conducted with Vice President JD Vance. “We’ll take a couple of questions from the news, and I’m sure they’ll be incredibly non-hostile, and friendly, like JD went through a very ‘friendly’ interview with George Slopadopoulos,” Trump said, according to Fox News, in apparent sarcasm aimed at Stephanopoulos’ name.Trump continued: “JD had a very nasty person interviewing him, and we can’t let that happen. Just is inappropriate to cut off a highly respected vice president of the United States, mid-sentence. I guess it’s one way to win an argument. That was the only way he was gonna win the argument.” He also referenced a previous ABC lawsuit, joking, “He (Stephanopoulos) was nice enough to pay me $16 million the last time we came — he had to pay $16 million to me. Which is good. It was worth it. It was worth having somebody lie. If you get $16 million, that’s good.”The Republican later declared he would not take questions from “ABC fake news.”JD Vance vs. George Stephanopoulos The trigger for Trump’s remarks was the October 12 interview of Vance by Stephanopoulos. During the interview, Vance defended White House “border czar” Tom Homan, accused of accepting a bribe, while the host pressed him repeatedly on whether Homan had indeed accepted money, citing an alleged FBI surveillance tape. “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 why fewer and fewer people watch your program and why you’re losing credibility,” Vance responded.When Vance suggested moving to a different topic, Stephanopoulos abruptly ended the interview. The vice president later criticised the host on social media:“Peace in the Middle East? China threatening critical supply chains? Government shutdown? George S doesn’t care about that. He’s here to focus on the real story: a fake scandal involving Tom Homan.”