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Republican Ohio Sen. and former President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate J.D. Vance questioned CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday, asking her point-blank if she realized she was engaging in “basic propaganda.”

Following the first presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, media focus on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio surged due to concerns raised by Trump about local residents’ pets allegedly being eaten. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vance criticized Bash and the media for focusing on “every possible distraction” instead of local residents, and accused Bash of implying that he caused a recent bomb threat in the town by speaking out on the issue.

“You’ve heard a lot of the media focusing on every possible distraction from the story in Springfield. You’ve heard them focus on these Proud Boys marches — just in this interview, Dana, the suggestion that because some psychopath is calling in a bomb threat, somehow we have to then ignore 40,000 Springfieldians who are having their lives worsened by Kamala Harris’ policies?” Vance questioned.

“I’d actually love to have this conversation right now live on-air. What is the implication when you say you calling out these problems has caused a bomb threat,” Vance continued. “You accused me of causing a bomb threat — doesn’t that mean you should shut up about the residents of Springfield? Don’t you realize you’re engaged in basic propaganda to silence the concerns of American citizens?”

Bash pushed back against Vance, stating she had been “quoting” Springfield’s Mayor Rob Rue, who she claimed was “begging federal officials to please stop putting negative attention on his city.” However, Vance denied Bash’s statement as he called her out for “applying a double standard.”

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“The Springfield mayor, he’s dealing with a lot of terrible things. I certainly sympathize with a guy and we’re going to try to help him out, but he did not accuse me of inciting a bomb threat. He just didn’t,” Vance said. “And if we‘re going to take the firsthand accounts of people who are on the ground in Springfield. Why don’t you bring on some of the people on your program who say that the migrants are eating their pets?”

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“You’re applying a double standard here. You’re saying if one person accuses J.D. Vance, I’m going to take that person’s word as the gospel truth, even if you misrepresent it. If you have another person who’s saying they’re eating the cats, you’re going to completely ignore them, attack them, silence them and harass them. That double standard is why people don’t trust the media and why we’re not talking about public policy 51 days out from presidential election,” Vance said.

On Thursday, the city hall of Springfield, Ohio was evacuated and closed for the day due to a bomb threat issued to multiple facilities, according to The Hill. In response, Rue told The Washington Post that the threat “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community,” and called on national leaders to offer “help” rather than “hurt a community like, unfortunately, we have seen over the last couple of days.”

Featured Image: Screenshot/CNN/”State of the Union”

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