President Donald Trump called for him to drop out of the race after Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones reported Jones’ text in 2022, and then the former Virginia House Speaker suggested that “two bullets in his head” should be released.
“If Jay Jones, the great Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and the running radical left-mad man crazy gelding, joking, if it’s not funny,” Trump wrote on October 5th of the Truth Society.”
Trump added that Jones should “quickly” drop out of the race and approve Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyarez in the process.
Republican Rep. Carrie Coiner shared a reported screenshot of a conversation with Jones on August 8, 2022, where she admitted that they were mistakenly sent to her. In an email to Progress-Index, part of the USA Today Network, Coyner called the message “not only get in the way, it’s disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office.”
“Jay Jones wanted violence on his fellow children and made a joke about shooting (former speaker) Todd Gilbert, which is something civil servants aren’t tired of,” Coiner said in a statement.
The message first reported by the Conservative Media Outlet National Review comes after a vote made days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It turns out that most Americans believe that blush political rhetoric contributes to violence. She attacks her husband with a hammer at the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
What did the message say, reportedly?
According to a screenshot in the text, Jones appears to have been clearly upset by comments attributed to Gilbert about the death of a Democratic representative. Jones accused his representative of leaking information about Virginia House Democrats to the House Republican Caucus.
He initially apologized for accidentally sending a message to Coiner, but later ranted in a rumour comparing Gilbert to former world dictators Adolf Hitler and Polpot. He reportedly mentioned that he wanted to shoot all three of them.
“Three, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, Polpot,” he texted. “Gilbert gets two bullets in his head.”
In a campaign statement, Jones admitted, “Like everyone, I sent a text message that I regret.” He reiterated that “violent rhetoric has no place in our politics.” He accused incumbent Republican Jason Miyar of “dropping the smear” through a media outlet that is beneficial to Trump and Republicans.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger issued a statement saying she spoke “candidly” with Jones about the message.
“After learning about these comments early today, I texted Jay and honestly, disgusted by what he said,” she said. “I made it clear to Jay that he must be fully responsible for his words, and what I have made is to condemn violent words in our politics as a candidate and as our next governor of our Commonwealth.”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA Today. x You can follow her at @swapnavenugopal
Contributions: Sudiksha Kochi and Bart Jansen, USA Today; Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progression Index
