Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says baseless claims about Haitian immigrants are 'garbage'

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Sunday decried former President Donald Trump's baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating dogs and other pets as "garbage" but stopped short of directly condemning Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, for spreading the false claims.

“There’s a lot of garbage on the internet. You know, this is a piece of garbage that was simply not true. There’s no evidence of this at all,” DeWine said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” when he was asked whether it’s responsible for Trump to push the false claims.

Asked what he would say to Trump after he pointed out that there is no truth to his claims, DeWine condemned groups that have marched in Springfield as part of a hate campaign against Haitian immigrants and went on to praise Haitians as hard-working people who have brought “positive influences” to the town.

“Hate groups coming into Springfield, we don’t need these hate groups,” he said. “I saw a piece of literature yesterday that the mayor told me about from purportedly the KKK [Ku Klux Klan]. Springfield is a good city. They are good people. They’re welcoming people. We have challenges every day. We’re working on those challenges.

“Haitians are — culturally, my wife, Fran, and I have seen this when we’ve been down in Haiti — education is prized,” he added. “So when you look at all of these things, people who want to work, people who value their kids, who value education, you know, these are positive influences on our community in Springfield, and any comment about that otherwise, I think, is hurtful and is not helpful to the city of Springfield and the people of Springfield.”

Recent bomb threats in Springfield prompted closings of schools and municipal buildings last