Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, has continued to lose support from the sources of his allegation that Haitians in Springfield are eating people’s pets.
Vance has said repeatedly that the story came from real complaints made by constituents in the city, but three of those sources have backed down and apologized to their Haitian neighbors.
The story gained national attention on September 10, days after the allegations began to circulate online, when Donald Trump mentioned it during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican presidential candidate said of Haitians in Springfield: “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Anthony Harris was an early source of the rumors, as he alleged at a council meeting that Haitian immigrants were beheading ducks in a park. A clip of him speaking at the meeting then went viral.
He has since said he regretted his statement, saying: “I ain’t never seen no f*****g cat or dog get ate in my life. And I never f*****g said that. I said something about a goose.” He added: “You asked me, ‘Do I regret it?’ Hell yeah.”
Ohio Senator JD Vance at a campaign stop in Sparta, Michigan, on September 17. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has continued to lose support from the sources of his allegation that Haitians in his state are eating people’s pets.
Isaac Ritchey/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Another early source was Erika Lee. On Facebook, she wrote that her neighbor Kimberly Newton’s daughter’s friend’s cat had gone missing, adding that the cat had been found “hanging from a branch, like you’d do a deer for butchering” near a house where Haitians lived. A screenshot of her post was widely circulated online.
Newton told the fact-checking site NewsGuard that the cat owner was “an acquaintance of a friend” and that she had heard about the supposed incident from that friend, who in turn had learned about it from “a source that she had.” Newton added, “I don’t have any proof.”
Springfield’s city manager and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, have said there is no evidence or credible reports to support the claim that Haitians are eating pets.
Still, Trump and Vance have stood by the story. Newsweek has contacted the Trump-Vance campaign for comment via email.
The Wall Street Journal reported that on Tuesday, a Vance spokesperson provided the newspaper with a police report from a woman, Anna Kilgore, who claimed her pet might have been taken by Haitian neighbors.
A WSJ reporter traveled to Kilgore’s house Tuesday evening, and she told the outlet that her cat Miss Sassy, who had gone missing in late August, had returned a few days late and was found safe in her basement.
Kilgore, wearing a Trump shirt and hat, the outlet reported, said she had apologized to her Haitian neighbors with her daughter’s help and a mobile-phone translation app.
The rumors have been followed by more than 33 bomb threats in Springfield—at the city hall, health care facilities, schools and colleges. All were found to be hoaxes and many were from overseas, DeWine said on Monday.
