George Stephanopoulos Abruptly Ends J.D. Vance Interview About Whether a President Can 'Defy the Supreme Court'

ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos abruptly ended an interview with Ohio Senator J.D. Vance after a heated exchange over the authority of the President of the United States to openly defy the U.S. Supreme Court, RadarOnline.com has learned.

During the interview, Stephanopoulos challenged Vance, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, about his statement regarding presidential powers. He quoted Vance, asking, "'Fire everyone in the government then defy the Supreme Court? You think it's OK for the president to fire the Supreme Court?'"

Vance defended his position by highlighting what he believes is a problem with government administrators and bureaucrats who do not respond to the elected branches.

"Let's just give one very real-world example of this: in 2019, Donald Trump, having defeated ISIS, said, 'We should redeploy our troops in Syria and Jordan out of the region.' You had multiple members of the Defense Department bureaucracy who fought him on that," Vance told Stephanopoulos. "So, what happened? We have sitting ducks in the Levant, three of whom just got killed because the bureaucrats aren’t listening to the political branches."

"That’s a fundamental component of our government, George, that whoever is in charge agree or disagree with him, you have to follow the rules," he continued. "If those people aren’t following the rules, then, of course, you have to fire them, and of course, the president has to run the government as he thinks he should."

"That’s the way the Constitution works, it has been thwarted too much by the way our bureaucracy has worked over the past 15 years."

Stephanopoulos pressed the senator, asking him, "The Constitution also says the president must abide by legitimate Supreme Court rulings, doesn't it?"

"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 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. "This is just basic constitutional legitimacy. You're talking about a hypothetical where the Supreme Court tries to run the military. I don't think that's going to happen, George, but of course, if it did, the president would have to respond to it. There are multiple examples in history of the president of the United States doing just that."

Stephanopoulos cut Vance off, telling him, "You made it very clear, the president can defy the Supreme Court. Thanks for your time this morning."

Vance was about to respond before his mic was cut from the broadcast.

Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.

Vance has been an outspoken defender of Trump, recently defending the former president after a recent New York defamation trial where Trump was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages.

"This case, like so many legal cases against Donald Trump, they're trumped up — they're in extremely left-wing jurisdictions," Vance said in an interview also with Stephanopoulos. "Or it's actually the Biden administration prosecuting his chief political rival."