Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said Sunday he did not regret spreading baseless rumors that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, and that amplifying the claims drew media attention to his and former President Donald Trump's criticisms of U.S. border policies.
"If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people then that's what I'm going to do," Vance told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
Officials in the small town of Springfield, Ohio have called these accounts untrue and a woman behind a Facebook post that sparked the rumor has since said she did not have firsthand knowledge.
Trump, the GOP White House nominee, brought up the claims during the debate last week with Vice President Kamala, the Democratic nominee. The claim has led to threatening calls and bomb threats in Springfield.
Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, dismissed any suggestion that Trump's comments had caused the threats, which led to the evacuation of three schools.
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He said he and Trump were standing up for the residents who are worried about the influx of roughly 15,000 Haitians to the town of roughly 58,000 people over the last three years.
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