Tim Walz kicked the vice presidential debate into high gear on Tuesday by laying into JD Vance for spreading false stories about migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Walz knocked Vance while answering a question on former President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations in his second term.
Walz accused Trump of not wanting to solve the border crisis and leaning into divisive politics by vilifying legal immigrants. Both Trump and Vance have spread the pet eating conspiracy theories, which were based on a false Facebook post and have since been shot down as fake news by town and state officials. Walz blasted Vance for spreading the stories, saying there were “real consequences” in that multiple schools were shut down over threats mentioning the false stories.
Walz also hit Vance over his defense in spreading the false story. Vance previously defended spreading the debunked story on CNN by saying if the story brings attention to actual issues related to migrants in Springfield, then creating a story that did that is worth it .