Watch: Moderators mute JD Vance's mic during immigration exchange
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance had his mic cut off during a debate with Democratic rival Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday. The incident took place after a heated exchange about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. The tension escalated when Walz criticized Vance for repeating a debunked claim that Haitian immigrants were "eating people's pets." Walz shot down Vance's claims by saying that the immigrants had entered the country legally.
Walz refutes Vance's claims, highlights legal immigration
Walz also mentioned that Vance's remarks had sparked terroristic threats against Springfield and its schools. But Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, wasn't backing down; he doubled down on his argument. "In Springfield, Ohio...you've got schools that are overwhelmed... hospitals that are overwhelmed...housing is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes," he said.
'Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you'
Moderator intervenes with fact-check, Vance rebuts
CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan then step in during the debate to clarify for viewers that Springfield actually has a significant number of Haitian migrants who are legally in the country. This led to a rebuttal from Vance, who pushed back against the fact-check. "The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check, and since you're fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on," he said.
Vance's microphone muted amid asylum system discussion
As Vance kept talking over the moderators while discussing the asylum system, they decided to mute his microphone. "Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you because your mics are cut," Brennan said. "We have so much we want to get to." Brennan's call to mute Vance's mic was in line with the debate rules CBS News had laid out earlier. The network had the right to mute mics to keep things civil during the debate.
