Alex Jones’ Jan 6 texts turned over to House select committee, report says
Mr Jones’ text messages were reportedly provided to select committee after the conspiracy theorist’s own lawyers gave them to attorneys who were suing him
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A trove of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ text messages spanning a two-year period has reportedly been turned over to the House January 6 select committee.
According to CNN, the text messages are from the same cache revealed last week during Mr Jones’ defamation trial in Travis County, Texas, by attorneys representing parents of children killed during the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.
The attorney for the Sandy Hook parents, Mark Bankston, said Mr Jones’ lawyers had “messed up” by inadvertently sending him a digital image containing the entire contents of the conspiracy theorist’s mobile phone.
Mr Bankston also said the select committee had expressed interest in the messages, which could potentially shed light on whether Mr Jones had contact with the White House in the days before the January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Though Mr Jones’ lawyer had asked Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, the Texas jurist overseeing the case, to order the copy of Mr Jones’ phone destroyed, she declined to do so.
“I’m not standing between you and Congress,” she said after Mr Bankston asked about providing the select committee with Mr Jones texts. “That is not my job. I’m not going to do that”.
Mr Jones has previously given evidence in a deposition with the panel, but he has said he repeatedly invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.
Representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat on the select committee, told CNN on Sunday that the panel would like to know more about his role at the Capitol on the day of the attack.
“Well, we know that his behavior did incentivize some of the January 6 conduct and we want to know more about that,” Ms Lofgren 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.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments