MANHATTAN (CN) — Donald Trump and his allies thrust a small Midwestern city into the national spotlight this month with baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating pet cats and dogs.

But speaking to reporters in front of Springfield, Ohio’s city hall, then later at both a town hall and in an interview with POLITICO, Ramaswamy repeatedly sidestepped questions about Donald Trump’s baseless claims that Haitian migrants were abducting and eating pets and wild animals here.