Alabama state legislator John Rogers says Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., told him “I know you’re right” about his controversial abortion comments.
“He called me twice. He told me, ‘Doug, John, I know you’re right but I got to come out against you.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ I said, ‘Fine, if it’s going to help your campaign, do that,’” Rogers, a Democrat, said in an interview with Birmingham’s Talk 99.5 on Monday.
Details of “Kill ’em now or kill ’em later” AL Rep. Rodgers’ phone call with @DougJones
“He called me twice. He told me, “Doug, John, I know you’re right but I got to come out against you.” I said, “Okay.” I said, “Fine, if it’s going to help your campaign, do that.”
Listen ? pic.twitter.com/sB03ugkwrn
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) May 6, 2019
The host of the show later asked Rogers to confirm that Jones agreed with his abortion comments.
“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 host asked.
Rogers responded, “Yeah. Right.”
Rogers was heavily criticized last week after defending abortion by saying you can either abort unwanted kids now or execute them later amid a debate over a bill that would restrict abortion to cases where it could prevent a serious health risk for the mother.
“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or kill them later,” he said. “You bring them into the world unwanted, unloved, then you send them to the electric chair. So you kill them now or you kill them later. But the bottom line is that I think we shouldn’t be making this decision,” he added.
He also said Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, should have been aborted.
Alabama State Rep. John Rogers (D) on abortion: “Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later. 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” pic.twitter.com/dxPg6X759h
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 1, 2019
Rogers told the radio host he had another conversation with Jones later which was not quite as cordial in which Jones yelled at him.
“I said I told Doug, ‘Doug, bye. I’m not ready to talk to you because you cannot apologize for me.’ I do my own apologies,” Rogers said. He described the conversation as “heated” and did an impression of Jones.
“‘John, John, John, be quiet — shut up. [You’re] killin’ me, [you’re] killin’ me,’” Rogers said. “He even said I don’t speak for Alabamians. I never said I spoke for Alabamians. I speak for my district.”
Rogers said he has been longtime friends with Jones who had served as his personal attorney.
Jones said publicly that Rogers should apologize for his comments. “It’s very very unfortunate and I completely condemn all of those comments,” Jones said. “That should not happen on either side of the political aisle, and unfortunately, it’s become a political issue.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Jones disputed Rogers’ version of events but said he did not want to have an extended debate about it.
“Look, we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I made my position clear,” the senator 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.”
Jerry Dunleavy contributed to this report.
