The lawmaker whose district encompasses Springfield, Ohio, waited nine days after the presidential debate that supercharged conservative conspiracy theories about the city’s Haitian population to make public comments on the chaos unfolding in his district.
And when he did finally talk about it, Republican Rep. Mike Turner failed to address another decision sure to bring more attention to the community: Former President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would travel there.
For a week, Turner’s office didn’t respond to multiple interview requests or a list of questions from NOTUS, including whether he had been in touch with the Trump campaign. On Thursday night, a spokesperson referred NOTUS to a CNN interview from that afternoon, where Turner downplayed Trump’s role in fueling the false narrative that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield.