Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Wednesday dismissed false claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), that Haitian immigrants in the city of Springfield are stealing and eating people’s pets, citing local officials.
In an interview on CBS’s “America Decides,” DeWine said the wild claims first surfaced online.
“This is something that came up on the internet and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes,” DeWine said.
The GOP governor added that city officials, including the blue collar city’s mayor, Rob Rue, have maintained there is no evidence to support the activity is taking place.
“I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city,” DeWine said.
While DeWine said Haitians in Springfield have filled job vacancies and “work very, very hard,” he also noted that the surge of migrants is putting a strain on the city’s resources.
Still, he did not directly answer whether he worried the racist rhetoric used by Trump and Vance could endanger lives of members of that community.
DeWine is supporting Trump in November’s election.
The White House earlier this week denounced the falsehood as “dangerous,” with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby warning that people could “act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt.”
Trump also brought up the debunked claim during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
His comments prompted a fact check by ABC’s David Muir, one of the moderators of the event.
Vance has also doubled down on embracing and spreading this false information, despite Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck telling ABC News there are “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
“The city manager said there’s no verifiable evidence. A lot of residents on the ground have said that there is,” Vance told NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor on Tuesday evening. “That just means the city manager, I think, isn’t fully in touch with what’s going on in the ground there.”
