CNN's Dana Bash reacted to her contentious interview with GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance about his Haitian migrants claim on Monday, during which the Ohio senator accused Bash of going easy on Vice President Kamala Harris.
"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," Bash began, discussing the interview.
Bash and Vance clashed on Sunday during a heated back-and-forth about claim former President Trump made about Haitian migrants in Ohio during the ABC News debate.
"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," Vance said during the interview on Sunday.
When she pressed further, Vance said, "meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it."
Bash said during the discussion on Monday that Vance "took issue with the fact that I quoted the mayor of Springfield," who called on federal officials to stop repeating inflammatory claims about migrants because it was putting residents in danger.
"Then Vance sort of accused me of telling him that he's inciting violence," Bash said.
Thousands of Haitians have arrived in Springfield since the COVID-19 pandemic, and residents have been pointing to an uptick in crime, mayhem and car crashes due to the massive influx of new residents, according to reports. In a town of 58,000 people, about 20,000 Haitians have arrived, The New York Times reported in early September, citing an estimate from city officials.
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"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.
Axios reporter Alex Thompson suggested that Trump and Vance were somewhat successful in shifting the conversation from the debate, which was widely interpreted as a loss for the former president.
"We’ve spent the last five days talking about Springfield, Ohio. Obviously, talking about these unverified claims and in denouncing the race-baiting. But we’ve been talking about Springfield, Ohio, the last five days instead of the debate performance where honestly, Kamala kicked his butt," Thompson said.
Springfield has seen multiple bomb threats in recent days, leading to school closures and evacuations, according to reports.
"You’ve been talking about the fact that there have been, I think, today again, there are colleges there that are closed, schools that are closed, hospitals that had bomb threats, and look, it is dangerous, I mean there is no other way to say it," Bash said.
Fox News' Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.
