By Kyle Morris

In an interview on Talk 99.5’s Matt & Aunie Show Monday morning, Alabama State Rep. John Rogers (D) claimed Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) agreed with his remarks last week on abortion but was furious because it caused stress to his re-election campaign.

During the interview, Rogers described a phone call between himself and Sen. Jones after he made the remarks on abortion.

“Everybody who knows me knows I’m combative,” Rogers stated. “And I told Doug that if you want to come out against me, I’m coming out here against you.”

Rogers then said Jones was “right” in his remarks, but he had to “come out against” him for political reasons.

“He called me twice. He told me, ‘John, I know you’re right but I have to come out against you,’” Rogers said as he described the phone call. “I said, ‘OK, fine, if it’s going to help your campaign, do that.’ That’s the kind of guy I am.”

Rogers said Jones called him back a second time and was “heated.”

“He called back and I didn’t know that somebody was trying to call me at the same time, you know sometimes lines get crossed up, and they heard Doug hollering and shouting. And they called me themselves, and I’ll tell you who it was: Frank Matthews.”

According to Yellowhammer News, Matthews is a “prominent social justice activist in Jefferson County and a longtime fixture in the area’s Democratic politics.”

“He said, ‘John, wasn’t that Doug Jones hollering at you?’ And I said, ‘Yes it was.’ I wasn’t going to tell him a lie,” Rogers stated. “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 affirmed that Jones was “heated” and then impersonated Jones’s remarks and behavior.

“‘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 added, “You don’t chastise me, holler at me like that. He issued an apology for me. I told Doug Jones, I said, ‘bye.’ I’m not talking to you, we don’t have to talk anymore. Because I don’t appreciate that… you don’t chastise me… hollering and shouting because I’m hurting your re-election. It’s bigger than re-election, what I was talking about.”

“Doug Jones was a good friend of mine,” Rogers said in regards to the situation. “I said, ‘was.’ And that’s how I feel about it right now.”

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