Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance on Saturday defended comments he made to CNN’s Dana Bash earlier this week that he fabricated the story to gain media attention over an immigration crisis in Springfield, Ohio, but did not address his own claims that Haitian immigrants are eating local pets.
“The media has lied and misrepresented, and of course the Kamala Harris campaign has as well,” Vance said. “I said, we’re creating the media story. In other words, we’re directing people’s attention to something that’s already happening.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” last weekend, Vance told Bash, “The American media completely ignored all of this until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to craft a story that gets the American media to actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then I’m going to do that.”
“I just told you this is a story you made up,” Bash replied.
Vance responded, “This is direct testimony from my constituents. When I say you’re fabricating a narrative, I mean you’re fabricating the American media that’s going to focus on that narrative.”
As CNN reported, there are no credible reports of Haitian immigrants eating pets, and the false claims stoked by Trump, Vance and their allies have sparked a wave of racist harassment against Haitian society.
Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has supported both Trump and Vance, expressed sadness in an op-ed published Friday that Vance and Trump “continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and denigrate legal immigrants.” In his New York Times op-ed, DeWine also emphasized that the Haitian immigrants in the city are there legally.
Governor Vance on Saturday did not address the false claims about immigrants eating pets, but insisted Governor DeWine was “completely wrong” about Haitian immigrants being in the country legally.
But he continued to tout his support for DeWine.
“Mike DeWine is endorsing candidate Trump Vance. We’re a big political party and some of us are going to have disagreements and that’s OK,” Vance said.
