Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance has doubled down on false claims that migrants are eating household pets in an Ohio town, as city officials repeatedly debunked the rumours.
The baseless claims have led to several security threats, and on Sunday Wittenberg University in Springfield said it had to cancel events because of a threat targeting members of its Haitian community.
Appearing on Sunday talk shows, Vance defended the false stories, saying "media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes".
"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," he told CNN.
“It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it."
Vance is a US senator who represents Ohio.
He first brought up the animal-eating claims last week, before Trump amplified them at his first presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
Since then, Springfield city officials have repeatedly debunked the claims.
Mayor Rob Rue told the BBC that the conspiracy theories - and Trump's pledge to "mass deport" migrants from Springfield - were hurting the town.
"People's pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio, " Rue told the BBC’s Newshour programme. "We reached out to the JD Vance Campaign to let them know that we do not have any evidence that has happened, and I've made it known in...
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