Virginia’s Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones should drop out of the race “immediately,” President Donald Trump said Sunday, days after National Review reported a series of texts in which Jones fantasized about killing former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
“It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes,” Trump said, referring to NR’s report on a 2o22 text exchange between Jones and his former colleague, Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner.
“If they were jokes at all, which were not funny, and that he wrote down and sent around to people, concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife, and their children.”
In the texts, Jones described a hypothetical situation in which he had a gun with two bullets and was presented with two dictators and House Speaker Todd Gilbert. He’d shoot Gilbert twice “every time,” he texted Coyner, who in turn rebuked him. Jones also accused Gilbert and his wife of “breeding little fascists” and admitted that he would “piss on the graves” of Virginia Republicans who died before him, among other things.
Miyares has Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement,” the president added.
Trump also blasted Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger for standing by Jones’s candidacy. In a statement, Spanberger condemned the text messages, but did not ask Jones to step down.
“Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor, is weak and ineffective, and refuses to acknowledge what this Lunatic has done,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Even Democrats are saying it is ‘RESIGNATION FROM CAMPAIGN’ TERRITORY. Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY.”
Jones acknowledged sending the messages and issued a half-hearted comment after NR released its report, saying that “like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret.”
“Let’s be clear about what is happening in the Attorney General race right now,” he continued, “Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign.”
The nominee, who is currently embroiled in a host of other scandals, including a reckless driving debacle and a murky record of professional experience, apologized further after he released the initial statement admonishing NR’s report.
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” he said. “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”
Trump joins a litany of other top Republicans calling on Jones to resign, including Vice President JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R., La.), Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Miyares, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, and Elon Musk.