WASHINGTON — The attorney for the plaintiffs who sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said Thursday that he plans to hand over two years of text messages from Jones’ phone to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Mark Bankston, an attorney representing Sandy Hook’s parents in a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones, said in court in Austin, Texas, that he plans to turn over the texts unless a judge instructs him. Do not do this.
“Of course I intend to do it unless you tell me not to,” Mr Bankston told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who appeared to have asked Mr Jones’ lawyers that Mr Bankston will The request for the material to be returned to them was dismissed.
When lawyers raised the possibility that the committee could subpoena the texts, the judge responded: “They’re going now. They know them.”
A person familiar with the House committee’s work said the panel had been in contact with the plaintiffs’ attorneys about obtaining material from Mr Jones’ phone call.
Sandy Hook School Massacre
Mr Bankston told the court that Mr Jones’ lawyers mistakenly sent him text messages from Mr Jones as they tried to defend him in court for spreading conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook shooting was A scam, and the families are actors.
They included texts with political figure Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Bankston said. Mr Bankston said he had heard of the material from “various federal agencies and law enforcement”.
“Things like Mr Jones and his intimate information with Roger Stone are not confidential. They are not trade secrets,” Mr Bankston said.
A House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has been trying for months to obtain Mr. Jones’ text messages, saying they may shed light on Mr. Jones’ role in helping organize the Oval rally near the White House before the unrest. Nov , the Panel issued a subpoena for Mr. Jones to provide testimony and communications related to January 6, including his telephone records.
The committee also issued a subpoena for a Jan. 6 communication from Timothy D. Enlow, who served as Mr. Jones’ bodyguard.
In response, Mr. Jones and Mr. Enlo sued to try to block the committee’s subpoena. Mr Jones finally appeared before the panel in January, after which he said he had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination nearly 100 times.
“I was just interviewed by the committee’s lawyers on January 6 and it was a very intense experience,” he said at the time. “They’re polite, but they’re stubborn.”
Although Mr Jones declined to share information with the committee, he said investigators appeared to have found a solution to his lack of cooperation. He said the committee had received his text message.
“They have everything that’s already on my phone and other stuff,” he said. Political organizer “I saw my text message” in connection with the 6 January rally.
Mr Jones brokered a donation from Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heir to the Publix Super Markets fortune, to fund what he said was “80 percent” of the Jan. 6 rally, according to the Jan. 6 committee, and said White House officials told him he The parade will be led to the Capitol, where Trump will speak.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Stone were among Trump allies who met or stayed in and around the Willard Intercontinental, which some Trump advisers viewed as a war room as they struggled to get members of Congress to oppose electing colleges Certification, which took place when riots flooded the building.
Mr. Jones conducted a Jan. 5 interview in Willard with Michael T. Flynn, who briefly served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, in which the men spread the word about the election. Stolen false narrative.
The next day, Mr Jones appeared in a crowd of Mr Trump supporters, amplifying the false claims but also at times urging the crowd to remain peaceful. Among those who went with him to the Capitol was Ali Alexander, the promoter of the “Stop the Stealing” campaign, who also received a subpoena.
“The White House told me three days ago, ‘We’re going to have you lead the march,'” Mr Jones said on his network show the day after the unrest. “Trump would tell people, ‘Go on, I’m going to meet you at the Capitol.'”
