Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost grew testy on Monday when CNN host Brianna Keilar fact-checked him for promoting false claims about Haitian immigrants.
During an interview about bomb threats that have been leveled against schools in Springfield, Ohio in the wake of former President Donald Trump's attacks on the community there, Keilar asked Yost about his own role in helping Trump advance false claims about immigrants kidnapping and eating residents' pets.
Keilar pointed out that Springfield Mayor Rob Rue has said that local police have investigated and found no evidence to back up claims that Haitian immigrants in the city are eating either pets or local wildlife.
"Do you think the mayor is lying?" she asked him.
Yost dodged the question and said that most of his social media posts about Haitian immigrants in Springfield have been on the "real impacts" they've had rather than the fictional pet-eating impacts.
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"My tweet was about the media's disregard for citizen reports, citizen interaction with their government," he said.
Keilar then pressed him for more information about these "citizen reports" and Yost said he was referring to "several videotaped comments that were made by citizens regarding a variety of things going on in Springfield."
Yost added that these comments from citizens "are not enough to make a case" against Haitian immigrants, and he then pivoted to saying that too many children attending school in Springfield don't speak English.
Keilar then asked Yost why he and other Republicans don't simply talk about the strain on local resources that migrant communities are placing on public services instead of telling lurid and false tales about pet eating, especially "when you are supposed to be a very serious law enforcement individual."
Yost took exception to this statement.
"Implying, of course, that you think I'm not [serious]," he replied indignantly.
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