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Alex Jones in court: "It's 100 percent real"
Photo: Briana Sanchez / REUTERS
The right-wing US presenter Alex Jones has gotten into trouble in court because his defense lawyers apparently inadvertently sent his personal messages to the other side's lawyers.
This is reported, among other things, by a journalist from the US broadcaster NBC, who is observing the process in Austin, Texas.
Video from the trial captures the spectacular scene of Jones being questioned by plaintiffs' attorneys on the witness stand: "Mr. Jones, did you know that your attorneys made the mistake of giving me a complete digital copy of your cell phone 12 days ago including all your messages?” the lawyer asked on Wednesday.
The lawyer represents the parents of a child murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Jones had described the killing spree as a staging.
The text messages are said to show that the conspiracy theory online portal founded by the media man took in more than $800,000 on several days in 2018.
According to media reports, the lawyer described this in the process.
Jones has not disputed the authenticity of the news or the amount of revenue, but pointed out that the funds are related to his reporting on the influential right-wing CPAC conference.
The moderator apparently tried to portray himself as a victim in the process.
He claimed to have lost millions of dollars by being banned from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Apple.
The companies kicked him off their respective platforms in 2018 for violating their rules.
The plaintiffs' lawyers, on the other hand, explained in court that his earnings had increased after the block by the major US platforms, NBC reporter Ben Collins reported on Twitter.
According to the Wall Street Journal, revenue last year totaled $70 million.
Also explosive is that the text messages contradict Jones' previous statements in court.
He had claimed that they were not relevant to the process and therefore did not have to be disclosed, as reported by the "Texas Tribune".
This once again damaged the defendant's credibility, and the text messages may also cause new legal trouble.
In the past, Jones has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories on various topics via the “Infowars” portal he founded – for example that the US government was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.
At the same time, he advertises supposed miracle cures that he sells through an online shop he runs.
(Read more about Alex Jones and his alliance with US President Donald Trump here.)
Parents of shooting victims sue Jones
Jones is currently in court because the surviving parents of a Sandy Hook victim are demanding $150 million in compensation from him for the consequences of his false reports.
Jones described the shooting in 2012, in which a 20-year-old killed 20 children, as a "duck".
Now, in court, he said of the massacre, "It's 100 percent real." The conspiracy theorist's lawyer argued that the plaintiffs could not prove that his client's words actually caused harm.
The parents of several murdered children had previously described in the process what effects the 48-year-old's claims would have had.
For years, they have been branded as members of an alleged conspiracy to restrict gun freedom in the United States, and have been reviled online and in the streets.
A father even said that strangers shot at his car and his house.
In the courtroom, Jones tried to shake hands with the parents, possibly trying to make himself look better, reports NBC reporter Collins.
In a conversation with the mother of one of the children who was killed, whom he is said to have previously described as “autistic” in a video, Jones repeated the claim that the parents were being manipulated with “fake videos”.
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