CNN anchor Dana Bash recently reacted to the contentious interview she had with Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Ohio Senator JD Vance, where the two sparred over issues such as the Springfield, Ohio controversy, where allegations suggest that Haitian migrants are eating cats, dogs, and other local animals.

Former President Trump received substantial backlash after he mentioned these claims about the mass influx of Haitian migrants in the community during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.  Trump was fact-checked by the moderators, who claimed city officials had no evidence to validate the claims the Republican candidate made.

Referencing her heated interview with Vance last weekend during a recent CNN panel, Bash said, “There was kind of a pregnant pause when I heard him say, ‘if we have to create stories and that’s what we’ll do,’ when I said, what, you created a story? And then he, I think, he realized what he said and moved on and went after me again.”

For context on the “create stories” comment, Vance claimed during the interview, “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I start talking about cat memes. If I have to, I mean, 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, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.”

When Bash further questioned Vance, he said, “meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it,” suggesting they are drawing media attention to the concerns of their constituents that are not reflected in the media.  During the subsequent panel, Bash claimed that Vance “took issue with the fact that I quoted the mayor of Springfield.”

The Springfield mayor had previously urged officials to stop repeating the claims about the Haitian migrants in the city, maintaining that is is putting residents in danger.  “Then Vance sort of accused me of telling him that he’s inciting violence,” Bash claimed.  She further criticized Trump and Vance for not focusing on other problems related to the influx of migrants.

“There are a lot of employers in Springfield who are so grateful to have these Haitian migrants there because they were trying to grow the economy in Springfield, which has been decimated in the 70s and 80s, and they didn‘t have workers to help do that. Now, they do. Questions about integrating and schools and with language and taking drivers tests, changing the laws. Those are really legitimate questions. Eating dogs and cats, that is steeped in racist tropes and there’s no other way to say it,” Bash added.

The American Tribune reported on other comments from Vance defending the Haitian migrant comments from Trump during the debate.  Vance said, “The city manager said there’s no verifiable evidence. A lot of residents on the ground have said that there is. That just means the city manager, I think, isn’t fully in touch with what’s going on the ground there. I’ve heard from many of my own constituents who’ve seen these things with their own eyes, who’ve seen these abductions with their own eyes, who’ve seen geese being taken out of local parts and slaughtered in front of their eyes.”

Note:  The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.