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RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones defended himself from questions about controversial texts envisioning the murder of the Old Dominion’s then-Republican House Speaker, as Attorney General Jason Miyares questioned his ability to govern while Jones repeatedly invoked President Donald Trump and salivated over seeing him in court during a debate at the University of Richmond sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association Young Lawyers Secton.
Jones offered regret over his words in those texts but repeatedly pivoted from Miyares’ criticisms to pledge to spend his four years fighting Trump in court and faulting Miyares for being friendly with the Floridian mogul.
“He’s asking you to hire him to be the top prosecutor but he’s never prosecuted a day in his life,” Miyares said of Jones, calling him “anti-police” and “anti-victim” for votes to pull school resource officers out of schools.
Miyares attributed Jones’ reported support for ending the mandatory reporting requirement of sexual assaults in schools to conditions that led to related controversies in Loudoun County schools.
WATCH: KAINE DEFENDS JONES AMID AG CANDIDATE’S TEXTS ENVISIONING MURDER OF GOP LEADER: ‘STILL A SUPPORTER’
Pivoting to Jones’ texts, Miyares said Virginians have “seen a window into who Jay Jones is and what he thinks of people who disagree with him”
He quoted Abraham Lincoln in saying that “character is what you do in the dark when no one is watching,” and said Jones’ invective was spurred by something as simple as Republican leader Todd Gilbert offering kind words about Del. Joe Johnson, D-Bristol, after the elderly moderate passed away.
In turn, Jones said he wants to bring progress, opportunity and safety to Virginia and accused Miyares of being too cozy with Trump, invoking the president’s name more about two dozen times.
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He repeatedly said that he “cannot wait” to see Trump in court and claimed Miyares has abandoned Virginians by not repeatedly filing suits as other state attorneys general have for a potpourri of reasons.
Addressing the texts, he said he is “ashamed I am embarrassed and I am sorry – I am sorry to Speaker Gilbert I am sorry to his family I am sorry to his family and I am sorry to every single Virginian.”
“This race has always been about more – when Donald Trump fires workers, defunds our schools – armed troops into cities he has a willing cheerleader in Jason Miyares,” Jones said.
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“[Miyares is] the only statewide elected official to receive that endorsement.”
Jones said Miyares will see the president at “MAGA rallies” but that he will see him in court.
When Miyares brought up his reckless driving charge – after a 116mph ticket on I-64 in New Kent, Virginia – Jones said he was held accountable by the Virginia State Police.
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But, Miyares said Jones was not truly held accountable because half of his 1,000 sworn hours for his own political action committee.”
Miyares claimed three of the four people charged that day with similar offenses in New Kent County, Jones was the only one not to receive a suspended or active jail sentence.
“If you were to apply to be a line prosecutor … you would not pass a background check,” he said.
JAY JONES’ ‘TWO BULLETS’ SCANDAL OVER VIOLENT TEXTS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE VIRGINIA AG DEBATE
Jones later responded by invoking crimes by conservatives that occurred during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Themes of the debate were Miyares branding Jones “not a prosecutor but a politician,” and Jones repeatedly associating Miyares with Trump and Miyares as more beholden to Washington than Richmond taxpayers.
Miyares later touched on his position as the first child of immigrants to hold Virginia’s top lawman’s job. He retold helping his mother learn the Pledge of Allegiance for her citizenship test and his uncle Angel Miyares being subjected to a public mock execution by the Castro regime for having the “wrong” ideas as far as the Communist leaders were concerned.
“Every autocratic regime, the people in charge always think ideas are better than people,” he said, tying that thought into Jones’ murder-texts and how he envisioned violence against a political opponent simply over political disagreements and eulogies about Johnson’s death.
Jones in turn spoke of his namesake father, Jerrauld Jones Sr.’s role in the House of Delegates and as an attorney in Hampton Roads – as well as his other family members who had participated in the Civil Rights movement.
Moments before the debate, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., became the rare Democrat to speak publicly about Jones’ text scandal.
Jeffries declined to call for Jones to drop out, telling reporters at the U.S. Capitol that Jones “has appropriately apologized for his remarks, and I know his remarks have been condemned across the board by Democrats in the commonwealth [of] Virginia and beyond,” Jeffries told reporters outside the Capitol. “And that’s the right thing to do.”
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