With NBC having been the only broadcast network to (twice) mention on any of its flagship newscasts Democrat Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones’s 2022 texts musing about murdering Republicans, it was a significant development when Friday’s CBS Mornings aired a full segment that went into detail about Jones’s texts. The problem? Half of the report concerned the anti-Semitic, racist, and sexist messages in a Young Republicans group chat.
Co-host Gayle King put the two on equal footing as part of a “rising level of offensive political rhetoric” that has been “getting a whole lot of attention right now.”
On Jones, King downplayed the Jones texts by saying they had come from “a conservative magazine” while she stated the group chat was definitive (since it came from Politico, of course):
Earlier this month, a conservative magazine revealed Democratic candidate, Jay Jones, sent texts suggesting that a Republican lawmaker should be shot and killed. Now, Jones has apologized for those comments, which came up repeatedly at a debate last night. At the same time, some younger Republican leaders are losing their jobs over their racist texts.
CBS News campaign reporter Taurean Small — not any of the network correspondents who appear regularly on any of the main morning, evening, or Sunday shows — used Thursday night’s debate between Jones and Republican incumbent AG, Jason Miyares.
Between clips of Miyares alluding to the texts, Small noted Miyares “led off Thursday’s debate with pointed criticism” of Jones, adding he “was referring to excerpts obtained by the National Review of text messages Jones sent in 2022 about then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.”
After reading them aloud that Jones wanted to murder Gilbert and his young children because change only happens “when people feel pain personal[.]”
Then came a portion of what he called an “apology” from Jones: “I’m sorry to Speaker Gilbert. I’m sorry to his family. I’m sorry to my family. And I’m sorry to every single Virginian.”
Small made the pivot to the group chat: “It comes amid another controversy over political rhetoric. Earlier this week, Politico reporter on a drove of racist, anti-Semitic, and violent messages exchanged by leaders of the Young Republicans national political advocacy group.”
He brought up the fact that the reporter behind this — Jason Beeferman — joined CBS News 24/7 earlier in the week:
BEEFERMAN [on CBS News 24/7’s The Takeout with Major Garrett, 10/14/25]: It’s called the Young Republicans, but these are, you know, full grown adults 18 to 40 years old.
SMALL: Jason Beeferman broke the story and joined The Takeout with Major Garrett to discuss.
BEEFERMAN [on CBS News 24/7’s The Takeout with Major Garrett, 10/14/25]: They referred to black people as monkeys or the watermelon people. They called rape epic. They talked about the love of Hitler, with factions of their party or even supporting slavery.
Small merged the two stories with Vice President JD Vance’s Wednesday appearance on The Charlie Kirk Show “seem[ing] to minimize [the group chat] comments, instead lashing out at Jones[.]”
“But the Politico story suggested the group chat members weren’t just kids. One, it says, currently serves as a state senator in Vermont. Another was fired from his role as chief of staff in a New York state assemblelyman’s office after the story’s release. Another is a senior adviser in the U.S. Small Business Administration. Politico said he declined to comment,” he concluded.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from October 17, click here.
