Vance Was Told On Sept 9 Pet-Eating Claims Are False

Mediaite reports:

Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck recounted to the Wall Street Journal how he received a startling call on September 9 from a staffer of Vance: “He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” His response was unequivocal: “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true.”

However, Vance had already shared the false claim with his 1.9 million followers on X. Regardless of the facts, the post remained up, and by the next morning, the narrative had escalated, pushed by the Trump campaign in an email to supporters.

Former President Donald Trump also then repeated the claim on the national debate stage: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs…they’re eating the cats of the people that live there.”

Read the full article. The WSJ report is behind a paywall.

How the Trump Campaign Ran With Rumors About Pet-Eating Migrants—After Being Told They Weren’t True.

Springfield, Ohio, city officials were contacted by JD Vance’s team and said the claims were baseless. It didn’t matter … and now the town is in chaos.https://t.co/4QPk8mRs9W

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) September 18, 2024