(The Lion) — President Donald Trump described Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones as an “animal” for Jones’ history of shockingly violent texts.
Jones sparked national controversy for leaked texts fantasizing about the death of a Republican lawmaker in the state and appearing to wish harm on his children. In a debate Thursday, Jones invoked Trump dozens of times, and said he “can’t wait” to see Trump in court if he wins the attorney general race.
Asked by The Lion aboard Air Force One for his response and whether he would consider getting involved in the attorney general’s race, Trump referred to Jones as “the one that wanted to kill somebody’s children” and “the animal that wanted to kill somebody, who should not be allowed to be running for that office.”
“He’s a third-rate intellect, he’s a guy who – I’ve never seen anybody say what he said, that he wanted to kill his opponent’s children – he wanted to kill his opponent,” Trump said. “I can’t imagine anybody voting for Jay Jones. Look, you would think he’s totally discredited. I would think he wouldn’t even be allowed to do that; anybody would be put in prison for what he said.”
Trump’s remarks were made on a return trip to Washington, D.C., from Palm Beach, Florida, where he spent the weekend.
“He can join the long list of attorneys general that have been suing and losing,” Trump said of Jones. “But the people of this country want law, they want order, they want safety.
“They don’t want to be mugged, or raped or shot. And that’s what we provide.”
Trump also reiterated to The Lion his desire to send the National Guard into San Francisco “at some point in the not too distant future” and “make that a great city again.”
The Lion asked Trump whether he was actively considering deploying the National Guard troops to any cities besides San Francisco, to which he said yes, but didn’t specify which cities.
“We’ve used the National Guard to be very successful in – as you can see the numbers are falling like rocks – Washington, D.C., Chicago is getting better even though we’re going through a lot,” Trump said, adding that although he was “trying to do it in a nice way” his administration could “always use the Insurrection Act if we want.”
“We want to have great crime-free cities,” he said.
Trump remarked on a number of other hot-button topics, including Israel and Hamas, to which he said the ceasefire is still in place but noted that Hamas is being “quite rambunctious.” Asked if Israel’s series of strikes on Gaza on Sunday was justified, Trump said he would “have to get back to you on that.”
Asked about the “No King’s” protests across the country, Trump said, “I think it’s a joke” and that the protesters were “not representative of this country.”
“And by the way, I’m not a king,” he said. “I work my ass off to make our country great.”
