Stephanopoulos Cuts Off Trainwreck Interview After Rep. Donalds Denies Trump Saying He’d Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters Who Assaulted Police

George Stephanopoulos abruptly cut off a wild interview with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) Sunday — after the Florida congressman repeatedly dodged a question about former President Donald Trump potentially pardoning Jan. 6 rioters who have been convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers.

In the first part of their heated clash on ABC’s This Week , Stephanopoulos and Donalds battled over comments made by Trump on Wednesday in which he questioned the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris . The second half of the Sunday morning slugfest was centered on another comment made at the same event Wednesday — a forum at the National Association of Black Journalists convention — in which he pledged to pardon even those Jan. 6 rioters who have been convicted of assaulting police officers.

“Trump also said at the convention that he would pardon January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers,” Stephanopoulos asked Donalds. “Do you support that?”

But Donalds disputed the context.

“Actually, what he said is that he was going to review every single case,” Donalds replied. “He even repeated that again in Chicago at the NABJ.”

“I’ll read it to you right now,” Stephanopoulos replied. “This was [NABJ forum moderator] Rachel Scott’s question: ‘My question is on those rioters who assaulted officers. Would you pardon those people?’ ‘Oh, absolutely, I would.’ That’s his words.

“Yes, but you did not leave in was the rest of his comments where he said — yeah, I would, but we want to look at everything on a case-by-case basis,” Donalds responded. “That’s what will happen, George.”

“No, that’s actually — that’s not what he said,” Stephanopoulos shot back. “He said, ‘If they were innocent, I would pardon them.’ They’ve all been convicted. He said he would pardon those who assaulted police officers. Do you support that or not?”

Again, Donalds accused Stephanopolous of misquoting Trump — even after Stephanopoulos added additional context.

“George, you just changed the sound bite,” the congressman said. “You just changed it. Now you added, ‘if they’re innocent, then I will pardon them.'”

“I didn’t change the sound bite!” Stephanopoulos said. “That’s exactly what he said! They’ve been convicted!”

After a bit of crosstalk, Donalds doubled down on his stance that what Trump was truly saying was that he would “look at” those cases involving assaults on law enforcement officers.

Stephanopoulos again quoted the full comment.

“‘My question is on those rioters who assaulted officers. Would you pardon those people?’ Donald Trump: ‘Oh absolutely, I would.’ ‘You wouldn’t pardon those?’ ‘If they were innocent, I would pardon them.’ That is the entire quote. They are not innocent. They are convicted. He said he would pardon them.”

“And, George, what I’m telling you is he’s going to go back and look at these cases,” Donalds said. “because it is without a doubt – and, look, January 6th is a very painful memory in our country — but it is without a doubt that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia was supercharging these people because of political viewpoints. Because you have other riots that have occurred in Washington, D.C., where the charges were minimized or dismissed altogether. That is not an even-handed system of justice. That is a politically motivated system of justice. And you don’t have to look any further than the difference between how the Department of Justice has treated Donald Trump versus how the Department of Justice has treated Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton. What he is talking about is equal — is equal enforcement of the law, not picking and choosing because of your politics.”

“I would remind you that this Department of Justice actually indicted Hunter Biden , the president’s son,” Stephanopoulos replied.

“Only after they didn’t have a choice,” Donalds said.

At that point, Stephanopoulos had enough and ended the conversation — even as the congressman tried to continue the debate.

“We were talking about assaults on police officers,” Stephanopoulos said. “People who were convicted for assaults on police officers, which the president has said he would pardon them. Thank you very much for your time.”

Donalds tried to respond, but was cut off mid-sentence.

“George, I just want to –” Donalds said, before his camera shot was dropped.

Watch above, via ABC.