Why it matters: New reporting from The Wall Street Journal reveals that on Sept. 9, the same day that Vance first amplified the right-wing rumors, the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, told his office that they were false.

• That didn’t stop Vance from repeatedly promoting the smears, which exploded onto national headlines a day later when Trump claimed on the debate stage that immigrants were “eating the pets” in Springfield.
• A week later, Vance continues to double and triple down on the debunked claims — casting it as a strategy to force the national media to cover the growing pains associated with the influx of Haitian migrants.

What they’re saying: “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,” Vance told CNN on Sunday.

The big picture: At virtually every turn, people in positions to corroborate the pet-eating accounts have instead debunked them.

Source: Vance adopts zero-shame strategy over Haitian pet-eating fact checks