Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook defamation trial begins with jury selection

A jury being selected Monday in Texas will determine what amount of money right-wing broadcaster Alex Jones will owe to two families whose children were killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School for claiming that the massacre was a hoax.

The Infowars host has already been found guilty of defamation in Connecticut and Texas for his false assertions that the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history never happened.

Monday’s selection process is taking place in Austin, Texas, where Jones lives and records his “Infowars” program.

Other families who sued Jones are still awaiting hearings to determine damages in their lawsuits. He has September court dates in Texas and Connecticut in connection to those cases.

The Sandy Hook school shooting claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults. The 48-year-old entertainer had alleged the shooting was faked by gun-control advocates.

During an April deposition, Jones had said that families of Sandy Hook victims are “being used to destroy the First Amendment,” according to court records made public this month.

He has since acknowledged it was real.

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For months, Jones ignored court orders to comply in his defamation hearing.

He claimed in a 2021 court filing his net worth was negative $20 million. However, court records provided by Sandy Hook families indicate “InfoWars,” which sells merchandise and nutritional supplements, pulled in at least $165 million between 2015 and 2018. In 2020, he was warned by the FDA to stop pushing phony coronavirus cures.

The Texas trial is the latest setback for the prominent conspiracy theorist, who has already been banned by Facebook and YouTube over violating those social media platforms’ rules of use.

On Saturday, Jones appeared on conservative operative Steve Bannon’s podcast where the former Breitbart chairman and Trump Administration adviser praised him as “one of the great thinkers” in American history with regards to global politics.

A day prior to that broadcast, Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt for ignoring congressional subpoenas regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing conspiracy theorists. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 21 and could face fines and incarceration. Jones said in January that he had spoken to that same congressional committee and invoked his Fifth Amendment right “almost 100 times.”

[ ‘America’s most prolific conspiracy theorist’ Alex Jones says Donald Trump called to thank his audience after victory  ]

Jones and Bannon have promoted the false narrative that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won by 7 million votes. Before being elected president in 2015, Trump appeared on “Infowars” and commended Jones on having an “amazing” reputation.

With News Wire Services