John Rogers, the state representative who made controversial remarks about abortion, claimed Democratic Alabama Sen. Doug Jones called him and said he personally agreed with his comments, but would have to publicly come out against him.
“Well, he called me twice,” Rogers said during an interview on Talk 99.5’s “Matt & Aunie Show” on Monday, describing two phone conversations he said he had with the Democratic senator. “He told me, ‘John, I know you’re right, but I [have] to come out against you.’ I said, ‘OK, fine, if it’s going to help your campaign, do that.’ That’s the kind of guy I am.”
“This is my take-away so far, that a sitting United States senator called you and said that they agreed with you, but politically he had to step out publicly against you,” the radio host said, putting the exchange into perspective.
“Yeah. Right. I told him, plus the fact, somebody overheard, I didn’t know he was on the phone — on the line,” Rogers said.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee flagged the audio. A subsequent statement from Jones on Monday suggested he disagrees that’s how the conversation unfolded.
Rogers, the representative of Alabama’s 52nd state House district, entered the national spotlight after making controversial comments about abortion access.
“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later,” Rogers said April 30. “You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later.”
Despite facing backlash, Rogers doubled down on his abortion rhetoric. The Democrat said Thursday that Donald Trump Jr. was “evidently retarded or crazy” and that Trump Jr.’s existence was proof he was right to support abortion access. (RELATED: Kansas Supreme Court Rules Bill Of Rights Protects Access To Abortion For Women)
Publicly, Jones has been critical of Rogers. The junior Democratic senator took to Twitter to call his comments “appalling” and offensive to the people of his state.
The rhetoric of Rep. John Rogers gets more appalling each time he speaks. He does not speak for the people of Alabama and is in fact offending all Alabamians with his crude and reprehensible comments. https://t.co/ZLI8e83Z2d
— Doug Jones (@DougJones) May 2, 2019
When reached for comment by The Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday, Jones’s office provided the following statement:
“Look, we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I made my position clear,” Jones said. “I thought his remarks were appalling and I told him that I strongly disagreed with him. There is already too much division in our politics and I won’t add to it here. With that, that’s all I’m going to say on this matter.”
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