Wall St. Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein explained how she went about debunking J.D. Vance and Donald Trump's false claims about Haitians eating people's pets.
The Springfield, Ohio statements made by Vance and Trump have been slammed by critics on both sides of the aisle, but they have refused to stop pushing the lie. Bauerlein found the woman at the center of the claim and it turns out that her cat was down in the basement, not stolen by Haitians.
She told the Morning Joe hosts:
"Yesterday morning, after the story appeared, J.D. Vance, who had originally tweeted about this issue, said, 'Well, I choose to believe the stories are true.' You know, we went there, we talked to people, we asked the police department for all of their records. The sheriff's office, the state wildlife division. There were no reports this was happening."
Bauerlein continued, "You know, in journalism, it is discouraging that we are trying to vet these claims in good faith and they don't matter. I'm sure your inbox is interesting. My inbox says, 'You're all not doing your job.' I don't know if our reporting just doesn't break through sometimes."
The journalist closed, "You know, we live in a world where they call it viral for a reason. Once the things start spreading, it is like a virus. It is hard to find the origin or also to tamp it down."