J.D. Vance reiterated his disproven claims that Haitian immigrants were killing and eating local pets in Springfield, Ohio, while also admitting, “If I have to make up stories so that the American media will pay real attention to the suffering of the American people, that’s what I’ll do.”
Vance spread unfounded rumors about immigrants in his home state of Ohio, which Donald Trump repeated during Tuesday night’s presidential debate. As a result, hospitals, elementary and middle schools, and universities in the area were threatened with violence, leading to closures and evacuation.
CNN's Dana Bash confronted Vance about his pet-eating claims, which were previously posted online by neo-Nazis. “Can you say for sure right now that this is a baseless rumor?” she asked him during an interview on Sunday. State of the Union.
“Dana, the evidence is the first-hand account from my constituents who told me this happened… The American media completely ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes,” Vance said.
“But it wasn't just a meme, sir,” Bash replied.
“If I have to make up stories to get the American media to pay real attention to the suffering of the American people, that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you’re allowing Kamala Harris to go completely awry,” Vance spat.
“I just said that this was a story you made up, so talking about eating dogs and cats is not accurate,” Bash said.
“We create — we — Dana, this comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents,” Vance said, backtracking. “I say we create a story, which is to say we create the American media that focuses on it. I didn’t create 20,000 illegal immigrants coming to Springfield, thanks to Kamala Harris’ policies. Her policies did that, but yes, we did create the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering that Kamala Harris’ policies caused.”
But Bash was quick to verify Vance's claim, noting that local law enforcement and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources “reviewed 11 months of emergency calls. They only identified two instances of people claiming Haitians were taking geese from parks. They found no evidence to support those claims.”
“Also, there’s other evidence that you talked about, that you even retweeted, that’s alleged evidence, which is unverified videos from social media from another city, that apparently have nothing to do with the Haitians. And this is from a conservative activist who offered a $5,000 reward for this kind of thing,” Bash added.
Vance also downplayed threats of violence against Haitians in the community that have disrupted schools and hospitals. “You just accused me of inciting violence against the community when all I did was air the grievances of my constituents, people who are suffering because of Kamala Harris’ policies,” he said.
But Vance must know that the increased attention to these unsubstantiated claims is making immigrants in Springfield fear for their safety. “You can see that this is pure hatred,” said James Dennis, a Haitian immigrant and Springfield resident. “They hate us.” USA Today“I usually take my kids to the park. I can’t do that anymore. You know, I have to stay home and not go out. We used to just go for walks in the neighborhood, but we can’t do that anymore.”
