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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., was silent when pressed by Fox News Digital as to whether Jerrauld “Jay” Jones — his party’s nominee for commonwealth attorney general — should drop out of the race after texts surfaced depicting the murder of then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
Warner, on his way to a closed-door briefing as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, averted his glance to an aide talking in his ear as the press converged.
When Warner stepped off the elevator on the second floor of the Philip Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, he appeared to go the long way around an open-air looping hallway to get to the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing room, after spotting the press.
He was also pressed on whether he would demand Jones return a $25,000 donation made to his campaign in August — which Fox News Digital reported on earlier Tuesday — and whether Warner regretted the gesture at this juncture.
Fox News Digital discovered a joint fundraising page for Jones and Warner on the Democratic Party’s top fundraising platform, ActBlue, as well.
“Senator Warner, do you want Jay Jones to drop out of the race in Virginia?” Fox News Digital asked Warner, who continued walking and focused on an aide’s ongoing comments to him.
“Are those comments acceptable — do you want Jay Jones to drop out,” other reporters chimed in.
Warner continued walking, turned the corner toward the briefing room, as the entourage passed a U.S. Capitol Police officer before the Old Dominion’s senior senator dipped into the members-only foyer for the committee.
Warner’s response, or lack thereof, starkly contrasted with Virginia’s junior Sen. Tim Kaine, who told Fox News Digital earlier Tuesday he stands by the embattled millennial candidate.
“Jay has apologized,” Kaine said. “I’ve known Jay Jones for 25 years.”
Sen. Mark Warner listens to the testimony of President Donald Trump’s nominee for Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, not pictured, in January in Washington. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
“I think those statements were not in character, and he has apologized — I wish other people in public life would sincerely apologize for stuff,” the 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee added.
Jones, a former delegate from Norfolk, Virginia, faces growing calls to bow out of the race, albeit with only mixed reviews in that regard from Virginia Democratic lawmakers like the commonwealth’s U.S. senators.
Texts received by Virginia Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chester, in 2022 and released to the National Review and Fox News Digital depict Jones illustrating a choice between shooting former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Cambodian dictator Pol Pot or former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah.
DEM SENATOR’S HEFTY DONATION TO DISGRACED AG CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN COMES BACK TO HAUNT HIM
Gilbert, Jones said, would deserve “both bullets” — implicitly sparing the historically evil world leaders.
Jones is also under fire for logging, without any time logs yet coming to light, 1,000 hours of community service with both the NAACP of Virginia and his political action committee.
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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., speaks at a hearing in Washington in 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Jones had been charged with reckless driving after speeding at 116 miles per hour on Interstate 64 in New Kent County, Virginia.
New Kent, Virginia, officials noted to Fox News Digital the straight-arrow nature of that heavily trafficked stretch of 64 — between I-95 in Richmond and the Hampton Roads and Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnels in Norfolk — produces many speeding tickets.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jones for comment and did not receive a reply.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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