House Jan. 6 committee investigators may soon get their hands on a copy of Infowars host Alex Jones’s cellphone with communications dating back two years.
Attorney Mark Bankston, who is representing parents of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, said in court Thursday that the Jan. 6 committee requested the digital file of Jones’s phone and that he intends to comply unless he is ordered not to do so.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE TO SUBPOENA ALEX JONES FOR RECORDS ACCIDENTALLY GIVEN TO SANDY HOOK TEAM: REPORT
A day earlier, Bankston revealed Jones’s legal team accidentally gave him a copy of Jones’s phone, after which it was reported the Jan. 6 panel was mulling a subpoena. Jones’s lawyers had not taken steps to identify the file as “privileged or protected in any way,” according to Bankston.
“You ordered my lawyer to violate attorney-client privilege and tell her about our private conversations, which is just unprecedented. I mean, this is like a tour-de-force of how to violate people’s rights,” Jones seethed in a phone call after a contentious day in court Wednesday.
Parents who lost children in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 26 people dead are suing Jones for defamation. They are seeking $150 million in damages and have accused Jones of peddling conspiracy theories that the shooting was a hoax. Jones conceded that the Sandy Hook shooting was “100% real” during his appearance Wednesday.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who is overseeing the case, rejected Jones’s request for a mistrial Thursday, chiding that his legal team has made multiple requests for a mistrial that she shot down.
Bankston hinted Wednesday that Jones may have committed perjury when Jones suggested during discovery that he reviewed his phone and had not found relevant communications referencing Sandy Hook. Jones appeared to reject that, noting that his lawyers gave Bankston a copy of his phone.
Throughout the course of the trial, the judge repeatedly reminded Jones that he was under oath. Clips of Jones appearing to give false statements during the trial have been swirling on social media.
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The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Jones last November, and he talked with the panel but invoked his Fifth Amendment right on multiple occasions, NBC News reported. The committee expressed interest in how some of the rallies that preceded the Capitol riot were organized. Jones participated in a few of those events and interviewed Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is facing seditious conspiracy charges related to the Capitol riot.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to a representative for the Jan. 6 committee for comment about its interest in the copy of Jones’s phone but did not receive a response.
