Donald Trump should not resign from office over sexual harassment and assault allegations, newly elected Alabama U.S. Senator Doug Jones said in an interview yesterday on CNN's State of the Union. This is the same Jones who said during his campaign against Roy Moore that former Minnesota Senator Al Franken, a Democrat, should resign over sex-related allegations that seem far less serious than those leveled at Trump.
In the same interview, Jones said he likely would vote with Senate Republicans on certain issues, listing an upcoming infrastructure bill as one possibility. "Don't expect me to vote solidly for Republicans or Democrats . . . ," Jones said. "I don't think anybody should be able to count on my vote for anything."
What's going on here? Regular readers of Legal Schnauzer know what's going on. Not even a week has passed since the election -- and Jones hasn't been installed in office, and he is proving that our reporting on his right-wing leanings are on target.
How goofy are Jones' comments about Trump? Jones essentially is saying the most corrupt president in U.S. history, who has admitted to being a sexual predator, should be allowed off the hook on those issues. From a report at Huffington Post:
Doug Jones said it’s time for his fellow Democrats to “move on” from focusing on the numerous sexual misconduct allegations against President Donald Trump.
Jones narrowly won Alabama’s Senate race last week, defeating Republican Roy Moore, whose campaign was rocked by allegations he molested underage girls decades ago. On CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday, Jones said Americans had a chance to decide whether the allegations against Trump mattered before the 2016 presidential election.
″People had an opportunity to judge before that election,” Jones said. “I think we need to move on and not get distracted by those issues.”
“I don’t think the president ought to resign at this point,” he continued. “We’ll see how things go.”
So, Jones wants to put the Trump sex scandals behind us, but here is what he said about Al Franken just 12 days ago:
The Democrat in Alabama’s heated Senate election says it is time for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken to “step aside and let’s move on.”
Doug Jones made the comments while greeting volunteers at a campaign phone bank in downtown Birmingham.
“Initially this was part of a Senate Ethics Committee. It seems to me now that we’re at a point that it would be best for the country and what would be best for his constituents is for Sen. Franken to step aside and let’s move on,” Jones told reporters.
Why would Jones call for Al Franken to resign, while seeking to let Donald Trump off the hook? That's an easy one to answer. Franken was the No. 1 thorn in the side of Trump attorney general and former Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions. And Jones' most important base of support -- financial and otherwise -- comes from Alabama Republicans connected to Jeff Sessions. This is a clear sign that Jones, even before taking office, is serving the interests of his Republican benefactors -- while more or less saying, "The hell with black voters who put me in office."
Those statements about Trump and Franken sound like they came from Jones' Republican handlers -- and we've presented evidence that he has handlers from the right wing. We published multiple posts during the campaign, showing that Jones is closely aligned with Alabama GOP operative Rob Riley (son of former governor Bob Riley). Jones and Rob Riley joined forces to help generate $51 million in attorney fees from a HealthSouth lawsuit, and that money reportedly helped Jones' 2017 campaign get off the ground; when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2002, his campaign was stillborn because of fund-raising problems.
Our posts (see here, here, here, and here) also showed that Jones drew strong support from other Republican stalwarts, such as Karl Rove, Jeff Sessions, Tom Donohue (U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and Bill Canary (Business Council of Alabama). Jones rode into office on the backs of black voters, especially black women, but the CNN interview is the first sign that he will answer to what many call the corrupt "Alabama Gang."
This likely will be the first of many times that Jones sells out his black supporters.
Alabama opposition researcher and whistle blower Jill Simpson was highly critical of Jones during the campaign, repeatedly saying he is an ethically challenged, backstabbing, DINO (Democrat In Name Only). The signs of Jones' dubious integrity are easy to find: (1) He called off an investigation of Paul Bryant Jr. and Alabama Reassurance after the company had been found during a Pennsylvania trial to have been connected to at least $15 million in insurance fraud; (2) Jones charged former Alabama governor Don Siegelman $300,000 for a criminal defense, did very little work on it and bailed out before trial because of Jones' scheduling conflict, and apparently did not return a dime of that money.
Jones, in essence, stole money from Don Siegelman and covered up for money stolen from insureds that involved Alabama Re and Philadelphia lawyer and entrepreneur Allen W. Stewart. Yesterday's interview with CNN's Jake Tapper likely is the first sign that Doug Jones' mask slowly is being peeled back.
We tried to warn Alabama voters about the scoundrel who was running opposite Roy Moore, but the message didn't seem to get through. Perhaps now, voters will start seeing they should have a serious case of "buyer's remorse" when it comes to Doug Jones.
What is Jones really all about? Here is a reminder, via the words of Jill Simpson:
What a hoot, I have never seen anything like this -- the Karl Rove, Tom Donohue, and Bill Canary Chamber of Commerce types claim they are staying out of the Moore/Jones race, when secretly they have all hands on deck helping Doug Jones. Doug is the Chamber of Commerce candidate in Alabama. Many progressives in Alabama have been viciously mistreated by the chamber, so that will not bode well for Doug. Many progressives have even been investigated by the chamber for working against Republicans, but by golly, the corporate guys are not helping Roy the Republican this time. Right now, it is all out war between Rove Republican elites -- Doug Jones is their guy -- and the Bannon Religious Right/White Republicans, and Roy Moore is their guy from the South and Heartland. . . .
The Rove Republicans behind the scenes are doing everything they can to help Doug Jones, and if he gets elected, he will owe them, just like they owe him for saving Rove from having to testify under oath -- by cooking the deal between the Riley/Sessions crowd and [Eric] Holder.
It's been proven over and over that Jill Simpson knows what she is talking about. The Tapper interview likely will be the first of many back-stabbings for the black voters who put Doug Jones into office
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