#Jim Bob Duggar Tries To Spin Josh’s Child Porn Conviction Into ‘Heartbroken’ Political Campaign Statement

How do you handle a child porn conviction in the family while running for office? Well, if you’re Jim Bob Duggar, you take no accountability for your role in it and treat it like a tragic thing that happened to your family.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Josh Duggar was found guilty of one count each of receiving child pornography and possession of child pornography, each of which could get him 20 years in prison and a $250k fine (sentencing will be held at a later, as yet unannounced date).

However, someone else came off looking pretty bad during the highly followed trial: his father, Jim Bob. The 19 Kids And Counting patriarch took the stand during a pretrial hearing and tried to downplay Josh’s teenage confessions of child molestation. Even after the mother of four alleged victims took the stand and bravely recounted the disgusting things Josh told her he’d done to her daughters, Jim Bob was doing damage control saying it wasn’t that bad.

Related: Twitter Reminds Everyone About Josh’s Politician Friends

Then he had a “selective lapse in memory” on the stand, as the judge put it. He pretended not to remember what happened so much that Judge Timothy L. Brooks essentially said he was lying and was “obviously reluctant to testify against his son.”

It also brought up the fact that Jim Bob essentially sheltered Josh from any legal consequences and proper treatment for his earlier actions, freeing him to victimize more children by eventually consuming child porn.

This is the guy who’s trying to run for State Senate in Arkansas on a platform of family values? Yeah, he’s still at that, too…

He and Michelle Duggar made a statement as a family on their website shortly after the verdict, but on Saturday Jim Bob the politician was on Facebook doing damage control for his campaign, writing:

“As a father, I am heartbroken over the entire situation regarding my son, all who have been affected by it in any way, and those who have been harmed through CSAM.”

That’s Child Sexual Abuse Material, for those of you who don’t have a Josh Duggar in your family and know the lingo already. He continued by referencing God and America:

“As an American, I respect our legal system and am thankful for those who serve in it. As a Christian, I put all of my trust in Christ in both the joyful and difficult moments of life.”

The man whose testimony was deemed “not credible” less than two weeks ago respects our legal system. Good to know. He finished:

“As your state senator, I promise to remain an unwavering conservative voice representing our great community in Little Rock. Thank you for your prayers and support.”

Man, there is no way voters could elect Jim Bob now, right? We mean, clearly the bar has been lowered the past few years, but someone who protected a child sex offender?

[Image via The Duggars/Instagram/Josh Duggar/Twitter.]