Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., dodged Wednesday when asked if Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out of his race after his text messages about shooting a Republican lawmaker were leaked.

Pelosi said such a decision was none of her business and that it was up to the voters of Virginia and the state’s Democratic lawmakers to decide. 

“I really don’t get involved in other people’s races,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash. “It’s up to the people in that state. I respect their judgment and wish them well.”

CROCKETT DISMISSES CRITICS WHO THINK ‘HITLER’ AND ‘FASCIST’ COMPARISONS CONTRIBUTE TO POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to say whether Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out of his race after his text messages about shooting a Republican lawmaker were leaked. (Jemal Countess/Getty; The Washington Post/Getty)

Bash asked Pelosi about the controversy which blew up in recent days following the publication of Jones’ private text messages from 2022 that revealed his violent thoughts about the then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

In an exchange with Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones compared Gilbert to two infamous dictators and said that he’d rather shoot Gilbert than the dictators.

“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” he wrote to Coyner, who asked him to “Please stop” in response.

“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know, and he receives both bullets every time,” he added.

LAWMAKER TARGETED WITH DEATH THREAT AFTER CONDEMNING RACIST SIGN AIMED AT WINSOME SEARS

Jay Jones has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Jones has since apologized, calling the remarks “embarrassing and shameful,” and said he had reached out personally to Gilbert and his family.

The leak of the texts has sent shockwaves through Virginia’s upcoming November election, which features Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, R-Va., facing off against former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., for the governorship.

Though Earle-Sears, Republican AG candidate Jason Miyares and others have called Jones’ conduct disqualifying, Pelosi wouldn’t go there with Bash. 

When asked if he should drop out, she said, “Well, that’s up to the people, the leaders in Virginia — they have said he has apologized. What I understand is, they say that on balance, he’s the better person to be attorney general. But that’s up to them.”

Bash noted Pelosi herself has experience with political violence. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, was brutally assaulted with a hammer in 2022 by David DePape.

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Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, right, both called Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones, center, unfit for office after texts emerged showing Jones fantasizing about political opponents’ deaths. (Pool, Getty Images, AP Photo)

Pelosi said she wished people were as concerned when people threatened to shoot her, saying, “We have to get rid of that kind of language. It’s not appropriate.”

Bash then asked Pelosi if she thinks Spanberger should call on him to step aside. 

“Well, she has to do what she has to do,” she said. “She’s going to be governor. She’s running very well, everybody’s very proud of her candidacy. And her race is her race, and her state is her state, and it’s up to her.” 

Pelosi’s language about not getting involved in other people’s races comes after she played a key role in pressuring President Joe Biden to drop out of the White House race in 2024.

A Democrat congressional candidate’s history of violent rhetoric is coming under fire after his public vow to “kick the s—” out of senior Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller resurfaced online.

“Stephen Miller needs to be THUMPED! That guy’s a freaking worm. I would be willing to go to jail for – I mean, how much [time] would I get for just cracking him a couple of times?” North Carolina congressional candidate Richard Ojeda said while recording one of his regular “Ojeda LIVE” live streams in March 2022.

“I’d be willing to go to jail to kick the s— out of him,” he added. “I’d be more than happy to find myself in an elevator with him and I’d whoop his a– from the first floor to the fifth floor and be happy to go to jail.”

The Trump administration was quick to denounce the rhetoric.

“Unfortunately, Democrats disgustingly supporting political violence is nothing new,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital. “Neither Stephen Miller nor any other member of the administration is going to back down from delivering on President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again. In the meantime, Richard Ojeda should seek help.”

LIBERAL MSNBC PANELIST CALLS FOR VIRGINIA AG CANDIDATE TO DROP OUT OVER VIOLENT TEXT MESSAGES

North Carolina Democratic congressional candidate Richard Ojeda (left) is under fire for past comments about how he would be willing to go to jail if he ever got the opportunity to “kick the sh— out of” top Trump aide Stephen Miller.  (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Sarah Silbiger/CQ Roll Call)

Speaking in response to the backlash his comments have garnered, Ojeda said that despite his language, he does not believe that violence is the answer. 

“The language I used in that video reflects my discontent with how political figures like Steven [sic] Miller are steering the nation I served for 24 years in the U.S. Army. I believe his conduct and the conduct of many who enable him to be a betrayal of our oath that I can not accept,” the Democrat candidate said in a statement he sent to Fox News Digital.

“That said, political violence has no place in our society. I know that better than most. When I first ran for state senate, I was beaten nearly to death on a creek bank simply for putting my name on the ballot in defense of my community. My family wasn’t sure I’d make it out of the ER that night, and I won my seat from a hospital bed. I survived my attack, but as we know many others haven’t. Political violence has spiraled toward darkness in our country and I would not use those same words today.” 

Ojeda also pointed to the fact that he grew up around coal miners, people who “talk tough and don’t mince words about how they feel.”

Criticism of Ojeda’s controversial rhetoric comes amid heightened GOP concerns surrounding inflammatory and violent political rhetoric in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and multiple attempted assassinations on President Donald Trump. Even Democrats have warned that “violent words precede violent actions” and that “we should have a culture of condemning any rhetoric that glorifies violence.” 

Meanwhile, this week, Virginia’s Democrat candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, came under fire after text messages surfaced of him saying his Republican colleague should get “two bullets to the head.” 

Ojeda is running to represent North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. A veteran who served in the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division, he had a short stint in the West Virginia state Senate before attempting multiple failed runs for Congress at both the House and Senate level. Those runs include two failed bids for the U.S. House in 2014 and 2018, followed by a short-lived run for the presidency that preceded an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2020. 

Amid his current race, Ojeda has raised more money than any other Democratic candidate he is facing in the upcoming North Carolina Democratic primary, according to Federal Election Commission records.

DEMS FACE BACKLASH FOR VIOLENT RHETORIC AFTER DEADLY ICE SHOOTING: ‘MUST STOP’

Richard Ojeda can be seen on the campaign trail during his short-lived presidential bid in 2020.  (John Sommers II/Getty Images)

In his comments to Fox News Digital, Ojeda noted that the remarks being referenced are four years old, and they were made “long before” he ever considered running for Congress, even though he had already run three failed bids up to that point. He also reiterated multiple times that he condemns political violence.

“I’ll admit I was angry then, and I’m still angry now. Angry at what people like Stephen Miller are doing to this nation,” Ojeda concluded in his comments to Fox News Digital. “The fact that he holds a place in our history books disgusts me, and I think it disgusts a lot of Americans. Steven Miller is a racist.”

WATCH: LAWMAKERS WRESTLE WITH HOW TO APPROACH HATEFUL POLITICAL RHETORIC IN WAKE OF KIRK ASSASSINATION

Charlie Kirk warned his followers to be weary of “assassination culture” among the left months before his own assassination on the campus of Utah Valley University. (Getty Images)

Prior to his assassination last month, Kirk warned “assassination culture” was spreading on the left in a post on social media. At the time, months before his death, Kirk’s post cited survey data showing 55% of left-leaning respondents said killing Trump could be justified. 

Kirk called the violent momentum a “natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture,” and accused the left of tolerating “violence and mayhem,” while also slamming “the cowardice” of local prosecutors and school officials for their complicity in promoting the trend of violent attitudes.

Authorities have arrested 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, accusing him of purposefully igniting a New Year’s Day fire that smoldered for days and later exploded into the deadly Palisades Fire that devastated California.

Rinderknecht, 29, of Melbourne, Florida, was arrested Tuesday on a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire, Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli announced during a Wednesday morning news conference. He was due to make his initial appearance in federal court in Florida on Wednesday.

“The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” Essayli said. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.”

ARREST MADE IN CONNECTION TO DEADLY PACIFIC PALISADES FIRE, SOURCES SAY

Essayli said there is evidence from Rinderknecht’s cell phone, false statements to law enforcement and his behavior following a separate fire that broke out shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day that led to his arrest. 

Justice department officials said evidence collected from the suspect’s digital devices showed an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a dystopian burning city. The Palisades fire destroyed tens of thousands of acres throughout the region, leaving many residents displaced, and claimed the lives of 12 people. 

This tragedy will never be forgotten — lives were lost, families torn apart, and entire communities forever changed.

— Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom

From New Year’s Eve 2024 to New Year’s Day 2025, Rinderknecht worked as an Uber driver in Los Angeles. Federal authorities said two of his passengers told them “he appeared agitated and angry that night after dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades.”  

He then allegedly parked his car and tried to contact a former friend. After he couldn’t get a hold of them, officials said he then proceeded to walk up a trail and took videos on his iPhone from a hilltop. According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht claims that he offered to help fight the fires, with the investigators noting that this is “highly unusual conduct.”

READ THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE

At that time, investigators said he “listened to a rap song whose music video included objects being lit on fire.”

“He then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song – to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days – whose music video included things being lit on fire,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht was listening to the French rap song “Un Zder, Un Thé” by Josman, which is about isolation, exhaustion, and escapism.

Background and Identity

According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Rinderknecht is also known by the aliases “Jonathan Rinder” and “Jon Rinder.” 

According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht had previously lived in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, California, near the site of the initial “Lachman Fire,” and was familiar with the local trails and hillside terrain where the fire began. Investigators noted that he had formerly resided in a house roughly one block from the trailhead and had hiked the nearby Temescal Ridge Trail numerous times. After leaving California, Rinderknecht relocated to Melbourne, Florida, where he was arrested by federal agents on October 8.

In the complaint, Special Agent William Schry noted that Rinderknecht “admitted he was fluent in French; he grew up in France.” 

A map from the criminal complaint outlining where Jonathan Rinderknechht allegedly started the fires from. (Department of Justice)

JUDGE’S WATERFRONT MANSION BURNS IN POSSIBLE ARSON AS FIRST RESPONDERS USE KAYAKS FOR DRAMATIC RESCUE

Timeline of Key Events

A sequence of events leading up to Rinderknecht’s arrest on Oct. 8, according to the criminal complaint.

• July 11: Asked ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting” showing a burning forest and the rich watching the world burn.
• Nov. 1: Told ChatGPT, “I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing.”

Dec. 31:

• Video from his iPhone showed a green barbecue-style lighter in his apartment; the same lighter (with his DNA) was later found in his car.
• Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver in Pacific Palisades.
• Two passengers later described him as agitated and angry.

Around 11:28 p.m., he listened to the French song “Un Zder, Un Thé” by Josman.

11:34 p.m.: Dropped off a passenger on Palisades Drive, then drove alone toward the Skull Rock Trailhead, near where he had once lived. He was captured on surveillance footage, according to the complaint.

A map of the trail that Rinderknechht allegedly used to walk up to the Hidden Buddha clearing. (Department of Justice)

11:38 p.m. – 11:47 p.m.: Parked at the Skull Rock Trailhead and walked up the Temescal Ridge Trail to the “Hidden Buddha” clearing where he took two videos; no fire visible.

11:54 p.m.: Played “Un Zder, Un Thé” again.

Jan. 1:

12:12 a.m.:

• The first glow of fire was detected by wildfire cameras near the hillside.
• Rinderknecht attempted to call 911 multiple times, with GPS data placing him directly below the Hidden Buddha clearing.
• Cameras captured the Lachman Fire igniting and spreading while he remained at that spot for over a minute.

12:17 a.m.:

• Successfully connected to 911 near the bottom of the trail to report the fire.
• During the call, he typed into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” ChatGPT, according to the complaint, responded with “Yes,” along with an explanation.

12:20 a.m.:

• Rinderknecht gets into his car and drives away from the fire. On his way down, he passes fire trucks responding to the scene.

1:02 a.m.: Took four iPhone videos of firefighters battling the blaze.

Jan. 2:

• Firefighters suppressed the Lachman Fire.

Paula Tapia hugs Katja Schmolka, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Jan. 10, 2025.  (REUTERS/David Ryder)

Jan. 7:

• Heavy winds reignited underground embers from the original site, sparking the Palisades Fire, which spread widely through federal and state land.

Jan. 31:

• Palisades fire is fully contained.