Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the “hateful rhetoric” and “nonsense” of former President Donald Trump surrounding his revealed claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eat people’s pet cats and dogs.
Harris, who made the comments to 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 and engage in the hateful rhetoric that, as usual, is designed to divide us as a country.”
Trump accused Haitians of eating Springfield citizens’ pets in the presidential debate last week, and as viral, false claims on the subject continued to circulatethe city of Springfield has had to increase its security.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine sent three dozen state troops to provide more security as a result of what he said were “a series of unsubstantiated bomb threats”. Two elementary schools were evacuated and two local colleges moved their classes online as a result of the threats, and a festival at the end of the month has been canceled as a safety precaution. DeWine, a Republican, said many of the threats “come in from abroad” from people who want to foment discord. Most of the Haitian immigrants in the United States is here legally under US programs, even as says Trump he would deport them “back to Venezuela.”
Harris said her heart broke for the Springfield community, calling it a “screaming shame” that elementary school children, “dressed in their best” for school picture day, were forced to evacuate because of the threats.
“This is exhausting, and it’s harmful, and it’s hateful … and grounded in some ancient things that we shouldn’t have tolerance for,” Harris said. “So, let’s turn the page and chart a new path forward and say, ‘you can’t have that microphone again.'” She said she had a brief conversation with Trump after other apparent attempted murder against him at his golf club in Florida over the weekend.
“I checked in to see if he was OK,” Harris said. “And I told him what I have said publicly: there is no place for political violence in our country.”
contributed to this report.