Former President Trump attacked CNN commentator Van Jones on Sunday as a “lowlife” who never thanked him for helping pass a bipartisan bill in 2018 that reformed parts of the criminal justice system.
“Lightweight Political commentator Van Jones begged me, while in the Oval Office and with tears flowing from his eyes, to help get Criminal Justice Reform approved by the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, apparently in response to Jones’s praise of Vice President Harris’s economic agenda.
“I got it done, with Conservative help, and this lowlife, Jones, never once called to thank me, or the others that helped, for what we had done. Along with Opportunity Zones, the long term funding of HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, and much more, I’ve done more for our black population than anyone other than, perhaps, Abraham Lincoln!!! Sorry, but that’s the way it is!!!” Trump continued.
Trump, in his post, included a screenshot of reporting that quoted Jones, a Democratic strategist, saying “thank goodness” in response to Harris’s plan for a federal ban on price gouging, among other proposals.
The Hill has reached out to CNN for a response to Trump’s criticism.
Jones worked with the Trump administration and members of Congress in 2018 to pass the First Step Act, which sought to improve criminal justice outcomes and reduce the federal prison population.
Jones has frequently touted his work with the Trump administration, crediting Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and then-adviser, with prioritizing criminal justice reform because of Kushner’s personal experience having his father go to federal prison.
Jones has separately praised the Trump administration for increasing funding to historically Black colleges and universities.
In an interview last year with Politico, Jones noted some people “were afraid” in 2018 that “if we quote unquote, gave Trump a victory on this, it would help him get reelected.”
He nonetheless defended his work with the Trump administration.
“My view is: You’re not giving Trump a victory, you’re giving 200,000 people who were locked up in federal prison a victory. And if the only way you can defeat Donald Trump is to make sure that for the next four, eight or more years, Black and brown people in federal prison stay miserable, we need a better strategy for defeating Donald Trump.”
Jones said last week that Trump is “freaked out” by the attention Harris has been getting recently and that the former president will keep “falling” as long as he “continues to throw fits.”