A Republican lawmaker in Virginia claimed that in 2020, during a phone conversation with Virginia Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones, Jones was in favor of more police officers dying so that fewer people would be killed, according to a report.
Virginia House Delegate Carrie Coyner (R) spoke with the Virginia Scope about a recent report from the National Review, in which it was revealed that Jones had allegedly sent Coyner text messages in 2022 about a hypothetical situation of choosing between shooting two dictators and former Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert. Jones noted that Gilbert would be shot “every time.”
Jones is also accused of wishing death on Gilbert’s children.
Per the Virginia Scope, when Coyner was asked about a message from Jones in which he said, “I’ve told you this before,” Coyner explained that it went “back to a heated phone call in 2020 about removing qualified immunity protections for law enforcement”:
When asked what Jones was referencing when he said “I’ve told you this before,” Coyner said it goes back to a heated phone call in 2020 about removing qualified immunity protections for law enforcement. (Qualified immunity protects police officers from civil lawsuits.)
Coyner said Monday morning: “We had a pretty heated conversation about public policy and pain involving qualified immunity. I served on the Courts Committee for a short period of time. A bill to remove qualified immunity for police officers, which protects police officers from personal liability in their line of duty and their line of work, and he believed that they should not have qualified immunity, and he was trying to convince me to agree with that, and I said, ‘No, police officers have to make a split second decision about whether or not to shoot a gun to protect themselves or protect others. And if they’re having to think about, will this strip my whole family of everything … are they going to be able to make that split-second decision?’ And I said, ‘I believe that people will get killed. Police officers will get killed.’ And he said, ‘Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.’ And I said, ‘that’s insane.’ But he firmly believed that if you removed qualified immunity, that police officers would act differently, and I firmly believe that it would not result in good public policy, and it would put police officers and the public’s lives at risk if they have to second-guess themselves on a decision they’re making in a moment where someone is doing something violent.”
Jones denied that he had said that, adding that he has “never believed and does not believe that any harm should come to law enforcement.”
A Virginia Scope article from April 2021 revealed that Jones called for the resignation of a lieutenant with the Norfolk Police Department after reports surfaced that he “sent an encouraging message and donated $25 to Kyle Rittenhouse”:
Norfolk delegate and candidate for attorney general Jay Jones is calling for Kelly’s resignation if the reports are proven true. “We have to get to the bottom of this reported conduct, which is utterly disgusting,” Jones said in a statement Friday. “If these allegations are true, Officer Kelly must resign from the Norfolk Police Department immediately.”
The recent report comes as Jones has faced backlash over his comments about shooting Gilbert and wishing death on his children.
Republicans such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and Vice President JD Vance have called for Jones to drop out of the race, pointing out that Jones’s “violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying.”
President Donald Trump has also endorsed Virginia Republican attorney general candidate and current Attorney General Jason Miyares and has also called on Jones to “drop out of the race.”
When grilled about his comments during an interview with ABC 8News, Jones expressed that he was “so deeply, deeply, sorry” for his comments.
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