From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virginia-attorney-general-candidate-jay-jones-faces-bipartisan-backlash-violent-inflammatory-text-messages/

Virginia AG candidate faces bipartisan backlash over violent,
inflammatory text messages
By Fin Daniel G||mez, Zak Hudak
Updated on: October 4, 2025 / 3:12 PM EDT / CBS News

Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Virginia,
faced condemnation from Republicans and Democrats on Friday after text messages from 2022 resurfaced in which he said he would "piss on graves"
of GOP opponents and mused about hypothetically shooting then-Republican Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert.

In a text message exchange with Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones
used violent and inflammatory language, writing that if he were
presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets
and was faced with the choice of shooting Gilbert, former Nazi leader
Adolf Hitler or former Cambodia dictator Pol Pot, he'd shoot Gilbert
"every time," prompting pushback from his former colleague.

"Gilbert gets two bullets to the head," Jones wrote. "Spoiler: put
Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives
both bullets every time."

Gilbert could not be reached for comment.

The content of the text messages was first reported by The National Review.

US-NEWS-VA-AG-JONES-VP
Jay Jones addresses supporters after winning the Democratic nomination
for Virginia Attorney General as his wife, Mavis Jones, looks on in
Norfolk, Virginia, on June 17, 2025.
Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
In a statement to CBS News, Jones said he took full responsibility for
his actions.

symbol
00:01
02:00

"I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family.
Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorryrCa I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take
back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my
sincere apology," Jones said.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial nominee,
swiftly condemned Jones's comments.

"I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and
texted," Spanberger said Friday. "What I have also made clear is that as
a candidate rCo and as the next governor of our commonwealth rCo I will
always condemn threatening language in our politics."

Spanberger's Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, also
denounced the remarks.

"This is horrible to read and should be wholly disqualifying of someone running for an office that protects the people of Virginia," Earle-Sears
said in a statement. "Jay Jones' horrific comments are a symptom of the
entire Democratic Party, and his running mate, Abigail Spanberger, needs
to call on him to drop out."

Virginia has become a true battleground state in recent years. Democrats control the House of Delegates by three seats and the state Senate by
two, but the Executive Mansion is occupied by Republican Gov. Glenn
Youngkin.

News of the messages reached the national level as well, with Vice
President J.D. Vance calling for Jones to end his campaign.

"The Democrat candidate for AG in Virginia has been fantasizing about murdering his political opponents in private messages," he wrote in an X
post. "I'm sure the people hyperventilating about sombrero memes will
join me in calling for this very deranged person to drop out of the race."

Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2