Alex Jones Caught in Lie

A Pathological Lier on the Stand

Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist, who has made a living spewing insane and despicable lies, might finally have to pay for those lies and all the pain they have caused. The first of three defamation trials for the infowars founder began this week in Texas. A jury is considering how much he owes the parents of some of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after he falsely told his audience that the whole thing was a hoax. The parents of a 6-year-old killed in the attack want Jones to pay $150 million in damages. They say, and rightly so, he’s responsible for the suffering they have endured, which has included death threats and harassment by his followers.

As Elizabeth Williamson writes in the New York Times, the figure represents the first time the family of a victim has put a dollar amount on the suffering Jones has caused by spreading lies about the 2012 school shooting. Even though Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting was not a hoax, he is still trying to play the victim role; he arrived at the courthouse wearing a tape over his mouth with the message “save the first” printed on it, a reference to the First Amendment which he clearly doesn’t know that much about.

In his defense, Jones lawyers are making the claim that he was just duped by some of his guests and he bears no responsibility. The plaintiffs are trying to make it clear to the jury that it’s just another lie from Jones.

Let’s be clear, Alex Jones repeatedly failed to comply with the rules and the law so that’s why he’s now facing the damages phase of these cases. What Alex Jones is trying to do is to re-litigate this case that he lost last year. There were four separate defamation cases that the Sandy Hook families filed against Alex Jones based on the torment that they’ve endured after he for years spread lies about the shooting. He lost those cases because he was refusing to go along with the judicial process. He was not producing business records or financial records.

He was not showing up for depositions, and his key staffers were not showing up either. He was sending people to testify as to the running of the business, who were not at all knowledgeable about those subjects. So judges in two states, Texas and Connecticut in all four…