'Unreal': J.D. Vance's bid to clarify admission about 'creating stories' backfires

J.D. Vance on Saturday attempted to explain away his recent claim that he's willing to "create stories" about Haitian immigrants eating Ohio residents' pets, because it draws attention to real issues, but it didn't go over very well.

Donald Trump's pick for vice president recently said in an interview with CNN, "If I have to 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." One Republican lawmaker was later shut down on the same network for attempting to defend Vance's controversial remarks.

Vance tried his own hand at explaining what he meant over the weekend at an event in Pennsylvania.

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"What I said is that we create media stories, in other words we focus the peoples' attention on what's already goin' on," Vance said at his rally. "Does anybody really think, I challenge ya, go to Springfield, Ohio, which has been overwhelmed by 20,000 Haitian immigrants. Go to any community that's been overwhelmed by Kamala Harris' illegal alien policies, and tell me that these are stories that are made up by politicians."

Critics were quick to hit back against Vance's new claim.

David Corn, D.C. bureau chief of Mother Jones and MSNBC analyst, said, "The Republican governor of Ohio, who is born in Springfield and lives nearby it, says Vance and Trump have been lying about this city."

Popular liberal influencer Spiro’s Ghost said, "He is STILL lying about the town. Unreal."

Former Republican lawmaker Barbara Comstock chimed in, "Since you love lying and liars - I challenge [Vance] to go to North Carolina and campaign with your endorsed candidate [Mark Robinson]."

Former prosecutor Richard Signorelli said, "JD could very well be a sociopath."

Writer and producer Ben Wexler said, "Someone literally did. And they are."

Former "Tea Party" Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman (VA) said, "These are stories made up by racist a--holes."

CNBC's Carl Quintanilla simply said, "Challenge accepted," and linked to a Wall Street Journal article reporting that Vance "ran with rumors about pet-eating migrants—after being told they weren’t true."

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