Jones' campaign didn't challenge the accuracy of the texts, first reported by The National Review, and he offered a public apology to Todd Gilbert, the target of the messages. Jones said he took “full responsibility for my actions.” Gilbert was speaker of Virginia's House of Delegates at the time of the text messages but is no longer a legislator.
In his texts, Jones wrote: “Three people two bullets ... Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot ... Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” Pol Pot was the leader of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
Jones and Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner spoke in a phone conversation following the text exchange, in which Jones described Gilbert’s children dying in the arms of their mother, according to the National Review’s report.
Jones has faced a torrent of bipartisan criticism since the messages surfaced. Jones is challenging Republican incumbent Jason Miyares for the job as Virginia's top prosecutor.
“I have been a prosecutor, and I have been obviously serving as attorney general,” Miyares said. “I have met quietly one-on-one with victims. There is no cry like the cry of a mother that lost her child. None.”
“You have to be coming from an incredibly dark place to say what you said,” Miyares told reporters. “Not by a stranger. By a colleague. Somebody you had served with. Someone you have worked with.”
