The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building has obtained text messages and other data from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s phone, according to a report from CNN.
Mark Bankston, a lawyer representing two parents of Sandy Hook victims who sued Jones for spreading lies about their families over the past decade, gave the committee around two years of Jones and other far-right messages.
CNN Through a source who was familiar with the transfer, it was discovered that the data had been transferred to the select committee. Bankston himself has not confirmed transferring the data, although he has said that he is “cooperating with the committee.”
Bankston came into possession of Jones’s phone dataDuring the defamation trial after the InfoWars host’s lawyer accidentally sent him the information. Bankston responded to the sending of data by offering Jones’s lawyers a chance to indicate whether or not they were privileged. After several days with no response, Bankston used the texts to demonstrate that Jones had lied in a deposition to the court; Jones had falsely claimed that he hadn’t had any conversations about Sandy Hook parents when in fact he had.
The two parents who sued Jones were awarded$4.1 Million in compensatory damages and $45,000,000 in punitive damages.
Jones falsely claimed that the Sandy Hook shooting was an elaborate hoax. Jones also claimed that no children were killed in the shooting. Jones also claimed that the parents who spoke out against gun violence were paid actors. Jones was enlisted by government to promote gun control measures. Jones’s lies led to Many years of harassment against the parents by his viewersYou can also be threatened with death or stalking.
The trial led to the parents being able to have their children. were awarded $4.1 million in compensatory damages more than $45 million in punitive damages.
Around two years of text messages and other communications data were included in the information obtained from Jones’s legal counsel. Because Jones was involved in planning the “Stop the Steal” rally — including encouraging his fanbase to appear in Washington D.C. that day and riling up the mob as it attacked the Capitol — his communications regarding the attack are of interest to the January 6 committee.
The committee has previously received evidence that Jones was in regular contact with Oath Keepers leaders. This far-right group played a crucial role in the attack. Jones was reportedly offered security by the group on the day of attack.
The evidence may be necessary to supplement the information that Jones has not been willing to give to the committee. Jones was previously deposed by the panel. However, Jones’ own accounts show that he did not participate in this deposition. His Fifth Amendment rights to self-incrimination were invoked “almost 100 times.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, stated that CNN Sunday night that Jones’s texts could offer valuable insight into the planning of the attack.
“We know that his behavior did incentivize some of the January 6 conduct and we want to know more about that,” she said. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look at it and learn more, I’m sure.”
