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JD Vance Counters CNN Host Over Claims About Pets, Migrants in Ohio City

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance took CNN host Kaitlin Collins to task earlier this week when she attempted to shame him over claims from several of his constituents that they have witnessed illegal Haitian migrants capturing and consuming pets and other wildlife in a mid-sized city in his state.

The claims from Springfield, Ohio, residents have also sparked several creative memes that have been shared online—another point that Collins brought up as Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, recommended that journalists investigate the reports in the city.

Collins brought the issue up after Trump mentioned it during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Why push something that’s not true?” the CNN reporter said, regarding “this misleading, false claim,” adding that city officials in Springfield have denied that the incidents were taking place.

But Vance countered, noting that “a number of constituents on the ground … both firsthand and secondhand reports” have said that there most definitely have been abductions of some pets. He also noted that city officials have not said the claims are untrue, but rather “they’ve said they don’t have all the evidence.”

Vance then said that journalists should be curious enough about the reports to go and find out for themselves, a point that was apparently lost on the CNN host. The Ohio Republican then noted that no one in the media cared about the plight of American citizens in the city and only began to discuss it following the reports of pets and wildlife being eaten.

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The real issue, beyond those reports, Vance said, is that a surge of illegal migrants into small and mid-sized American cities for years under the Biden-Harris administration is rarely discussed by the media.

“Whether those exact rumors turn out to be mostly true, somewhat true,  whatever the case may be, Kaitlan, this town has been ravaged by 20,000 migrants coming in. Health care costs are up. Housing costs are up. Communicable diseases like HIV and TB have skyrocketed in this small Ohio town. This is what Kamala Harris’s border policies have done,” he said, referencing Harris’ ‘border czar’ post she was given by Biden.

That led Collins to ask a condescending question. “If someone calls your office and says they saw Bigfoot, that doesn’t mean they saw Bigfoot,” she said before inquiring as to why Trump and Vance would allegedly “promote false information?”

Vance responded: “I have a responsibility as a United States senator — I think the media has a responsibility as an institution that cares about truth — to actually take people seriously when they say their lives have been ruined by this migrant crisis.”

Oddly, the segment was posted on YouTube by CNN claiming that Vance was spreading “misinformation” — before the network even sent its own reporters to the Ohio city to verify or refute the claims in person.

WATCH:

Trump’s campaign managers declared him the “clear winner” of his debate with Harris, even though the debate had not yet concluded at the time of their statement.

Trump’s campaign managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, released a statement that was tweeted by Real Clear Politics reporter Philip Wegmann at 10:33 pm ET, roughly ten minutes before the candidates began their closing statements.

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Here’s the full statement:

“President Trump delivered a masterful debate performance tonight, prosecuting Kamala Harris’ abysmal record of failure that has hurt Americans for the last 4 years.

“We saw President Trump lay out his bold vision of America and how he would continue to build upon the successes of his first term by supercharging the economy, securing the border, and stopping crime from ravaging communities across the country.

“Conversely, Kamala’s vision of America was a dark reminder of the oppressive, big government policies of Joe Biden that she wants to continue. High inflation, a porous border that allows criminals and terrorists to flood across, and being soft on crime — that is what Kamala represents.

“The choice could not be more clear — President Trump was the clear winner tonight, and he will win for America when he returns to the White House.”

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