Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) confronted House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday for posting an AI-generated photo of Donald Trump protecting pets to promote a baseless anti-immigrant smear.
On Monday, several Republicans amplified a viral claim alleging that Haitian migrants are killing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
The Jordan-led House Judiciary Committee X account posted an image of Trump hugging a kitten and a goose writing, “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!”
Both the Springfield Police Division and the City of Springfield released statements saying they had no reports of Haitian immigrants killing and eating pets.
During Tuesday’s committee hearing with witnesses called to discuss instances of violence related to immigrants in the country illegally, Swalwell confronted Jordan for promoting the baseless smear against Haitians migrants.
“You would expect some seriousness, some gravitas, respect for the people who came here,” Swalwell said “What in the hell is this the chairman tweets? ‘Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio’ because he goes down some crazy rabbit hole completely debunked that aliens are eating pets.”
“My God, are you ok, Mr. Chairman? Because last year, for a very long time, you tweeted and promoted Kanye West as he was calling for genocide against the Jews and you kept it up. And now when we have victims coming here, you’re tweeting this nonsense,” he continued.
“You expected a serious forum,” Swalwell added. “You are serious. This issue is serious. They [Republicans] are not serious.”
