On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am-the duo chatted with State Rep Cameron Sexton about another Justin Jones assault that occurred at the Tennessee Capitol this week. Allegedly Jones and his sidekick named Kenesha followed Sexton and Casada to the “white elevator” and continuously called the men “racists” before throwing a cup of Frothy Monkey coffee into the elevator hitting Speaker Casada and also State Representative Deborah Moody.
Further on into the discussion the men questioned how Jones (who is out on bail for another alleged assault) was able to manage this and were concerned that next time it could be an instance like that of Steve Scalise who was shot during a Republican Baseball game last summer. Gill questioned whether or not the Nashville Assistant District Attorney would revoke his bail and called for added security for legislators.
Gill: Good to have you with us. You were right there in the thick of it. Here, just to refresh your recollection, I sound like a lawyer don’t I? To refresh your recollection, here’s what it sounded like.
(Audio plays)
Gill: So after that occurred, you had the arrest of Justin Jones and one of his partners Kaneesha. Justin Jones second arrest for this kind of behavior. But it is ratcheting up and getting more violent as he throws this cup of Frothy Monkey coffee at the Speaker. Cameron Sexton with us. Cam what did you see?
Sexton: Yeah I know, I think the audio left out a few accusations about us being racist as we’re walking to the elevator. I mean that was it. We were getting on the elevator as we normally do and we were the last members to come off the floor because we had a press availability and so usually when you come off the floor for Democrats and Republicans, since the elevator only holds so much the Sergeant Arms holds it over and lets the members get on and you ride down. In a bipartisan effort, I may say we ride down usually. And so as…
Gill: So it’s not a white’s only elevator. Black Democrat legislators also ride on that exact same elevator with you and other Republican legislators. It’s just an elevator that legislators use.
Sexton: Yeah there are only two elevators you can use to go down into the tunnel to get back to the office, so yeah. I mean there is no white only elevator as they were saying and it’s not really a members-only elevator as well. Sometimes you are in there with other people. But as we were getting on the Justin Jones who is actually a student at the Vanderbilt School of Divinity which is interesting all in itself. He was outside and he had a cup in his hand and he was calling us racist and members of the KKK. And if you remember last week he actually escalated further and kind of bumped Glen as he was walking down the hall. And he was upset that he couldn’t get on the elevator and so as we were getting on he took his Frothy Monkey coffee cup and threw it at the Speaker and hit the speaker. And it ricocheted off because it was full and hit Representative Deborah Moody as well.
Gill: Quick side question. So if Justin Jones is a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School does go to jail. Will Governor Lee’s new college for crooks plan to pay for his school at Vanderbilt Divinity with the taxpayer dollars?
(Leahy Laughs) Â
Sexton: Who knows, who knows. The funny thing is if you go back and look at the article from when he was arrested at Senator Blackburn’s event back in Williamson. The school actually came out and defended his actions, ok? So we’re waiting to see if they’ll defend his actions for basically being charged with two counts of assault yesterday.
Gill: What about Mary Mancini. What about the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill? Have they condemned the actions and called for better security for members of the legislature. We don’t want to have a Steve Scalise congressional Republican baseball team shooting as this guy keeps ratcheting up his behavior. At what point do the Democrats call a halt to this kind of outrageous behavior.
Sexton: Yeah well, I don’t think they’re going to call a halt to it. I mean Mary Mancini came out and said she didn’t approve of the attack or condemned it or whatever she wanted to say. You know, Bo Mitchell later said he doesn’t condone acts like this but if you remember he didn’t condone his act of stealing campaign funds during the campaign season. So you know that’s interesting all in itself as well. But what I will say is this is escalating to a level, where last week was a bump, this week it was a cup. What’s coming next? If this was the President or a member of Congress in there and that happened, what would have been the consequences of that? And so this is really escalating and it’s getting to a point to where it is becoming totally disruptive in the Capitol.
Gill: You know you have this Justin Jones character who is awaiting trial on his previous arrest. I think they kind of have a status trial in the next week or so and the trial is quite a ways off. Should the DA in Nashville, Glen Funk, who’s got his own issues now with a Confederate battle flag picture from his college days. Should the Assistant DA revoke this guys bail pending his trial on his first set of charges?
Sexton: Well I think so. I mean, I think that could be part of the proceedings if the DA wants to do that as well. And I think he could do other things to limit the availability of this Justin guy who looks like he at times a protester, an organizer for a group of people from colleges around Nashville. (Inaudible talk).
Gill: Yeah a professional. We’re going to get to the point if we don’t ratchet it down Cam, ya’ll going to have to wear raincoats like in the Capitol to protect yourselves from liquids.
Listen to the full show here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Background Photo “Justin Jones” by Justin Jones.
“Should the Assistant DA revoke this guys bail pending his trial on his first set of charges?”
Well yes! Isn’t that the usual thing that is done to anyone else? Why should Justin Jones receive preferential treatment? That would be discrimination, perhaps racially construed, and I’m sure he is against that!