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Jay Jones’ campaign faces scrutiny over wife’s bail fund donation
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Virginia legal professional basic candidate Jay Jones confronted new political fallout Friday after a report revealed his spouse had donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a controversial bail group that used tens of millions to bail out violent offenders, together with accused rapists and murderers.
In Could 2020, throughout unrest in Minneapolis following the demise of George Floyd, Mavis Jones posted on Twitter: “I simply donated to the Minnesota Freedom Fund,” with a hyperlink to the group’s donation web page and urged others to do the identical. The account has since grow to be non-public.
The revelation, first reported by The The free beacon of Washingtoncomes as Jones, a Democrat, trails Republican incumbent Jason Miyares in a good race for the highest regulation enforcement publish in Virginia. The state’s legal professional basic oversees state-level prosecutions and police oversight.
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The Minnesota Freedom Fund, promoted on the time by a number of progressive figures together with Sen. Kamala Harris, raised greater than $41 million through the 2020 protests, pledging to assist protesters arrested throughout clashes with police.
Just one FOX 9 investigation later found that the group spent most of its cash bailing out defendants charged with severe violent crimes relatively than low-level protest crimes.
Jay Jones addresses his supporters after profitable the Democratic nomination for legal professional basic of Virginia as his spouse Mavis Jones seems to be on in Norfolk, Virginia, June 17, 2025. (Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune Information Service through Getty Photos)
Amongst these rescued was Christopher Boswell, a twice-convicted rapist who confronted new kidnapping and assault fees and was launched after the fund posted $350,000 bail.
The group additionally paid $100,000 to launch Darnika Floyd, who was charged with manslaughter, and $75,000 for Jaleel Stallings, who allegedly shot at a Minneapolis SWAT workforce earlier than being acquitted at trial.
Greg Lewin, the fund’s interim director on the time, advised FOX 9 that very same 12 months, “The final time we had been there, the clerk mentioned, ‘We hate it when it’s important to bail out these intercourse offenders.’ Usually I do not even take a look at fees once I launch somebody.”
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Darnika Floyd, charged with manslaughter, was launched after the Minnesota Freedom Fund posted $100,000 bail in 2020. (Minnesota Division of Corrections)
In a single case, the fund posted bail for George Howard, a profession legal who was later charged with fatally taking pictures a person in a visitors incident in Minneapolis simply weeks after his launch.
The information provides to a sequence of controversies for Jones, 35, who has already apologized for violent textual content messages directed at Republican leaders. In a single dialog, he wrote that then-Speaker of the Home of Representatives Todd Gilbert will obtain “two bullets within the head” and that Gilbert’s spouse Jennifer should “watch her kids die.”
Mavis Jones, spouse of scandal-plagued Virginia AG candidate Jay Jones, D-Va., reportedly posted about her assist of the Minnesota Freedom Fund in 2020, which rescued accused murderers and rapists. (Jay Jones through X)
Courtroom data additionally present that Jones was convicted of reckless driving in 2022 for going 116 miles per hour on a Virginia freeway. He was fined $1,500 and sentenced to 1,000 hours of group service, however a state ethics overview is analyzing whether or not the hours he spent as a volunteer for his personal political committee ought to depend towards the sentence.
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The most recent controversy offers Miyares and the Republicans new fodder within the ultimate weeks of the marketing campaign. A Trafalgar Group Survey The Oct. 17 launch confirmed Miyares main 49.5% to 44.6%, a reversal from earlier surveys that confirmed Jones main by six factors earlier than the texting scandal broke.
As of Friday, Mavis Jones has set her X account to personal.
The Minnesota Freedom Fund and the Jay Jones marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.