Vice President Kamala Harris has blasted former President Donald Trump’s “hateful rhetoric” and “nonsense” surrounding her demystified claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat people’s house cats and dogs.
Harris, who made the comments before a National Association of Black Journalists panel in Philadelphia on Tuesday, said of Trump: “You cannot be trusted to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States of America and engage in this hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country.”
Trump accused Haitians of eating Springfield residents’ pets during the presidential debate last week, and as viral, false statements on the subject following circulateThe city of Springfield has had to step up its security.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent three dozen state police U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. government had stepped up security because of what he called a “series of unfounded bomb threats.” Two elementary schools were evacuated and two local middle schools moved classes online following the threats, and a festival planned for later this month was canceled as a security precaution. DeWine, a Republican, said many of the threats “come from overseas” and come from people who want to stir up discord. Most Haitian immigrants in the United States are here legally within the framework of American programs, even if Trump says he would expel them “to Venezuela.”
Harris said his heart was broken for the Springfield community, calling it a “crying shame” that elementary school children, “dressed in their best clothes” for class picture day, were forced to evacuate because of the threats.
“It’s exhausting, it’s harmful and it’s hateful … and it builds on old things that we shouldn’t tolerate,” Harris said. “So let’s turn the page and chart a new course forward and say, ‘You can’t have that microphone anymore.’” She said she had a brief conversation with Trump after the second apparent assassination attempt against him at his Florida golf club this weekend.
“I checked on him,” Harris said. “And I told him what I’ve said publicly: There is no place for political violence in our country.”
Nikole Killion contributed to this report.
