One of America's most prominent purveyors of conspiracy theories does not want his political motivations mentioned as a Connecticut jury determines how much he will pay after lying about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Newtown.
"Attorneys getting ready for a jury trial to decide how much Alex Jones will pay Sandy Hook families he defamed want a judge to bar evidence about 'white supremacy and right-wing extremism,' saying such associations would violate his right to a fair trial," the Connecticut Post reported Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis has scheduled a Thursday pretrial conference likely to focus on a scheduling conflict as Jones also faces legal liability in Texas.
READ: Alex Jones' former wife offers Jan. 6 committee 'relevant insider info' after Tuesday hearing
"The short version of the showdown is that in addition to the defamation lawsuit Jones lost to families here last year, Jones lost two other defamation lawsuits to Sandy Hook parents in Texas and a fourth defamation lawsuit to a Norwalk native Jones’ Infowars site defamed as a mass shooter. There was no conflict in the trial dates to award damages until Jones filed for federal bankruptcy protection one week before the first Texas trial was to begin. Jones’ bankruptcy maneuver didn’t work, except to cause the judge in Texas to reschedule the three trials in Travis County — two of which are now in conflict with the Connecticut trial," the newspaper reported.
Jones had claimed that the shooting was "staged" and "a giant hoax" that was carried out by "actors."
The podcaster also has potential liability for his role in Trump's unsuccessful coup attempt.
In November, Jones was issued a subpoena by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Alex Jones reportedly helped organize the rally at the Ellipse on January 6th that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol, including by facilitating a donation to provide what he described as 'eighty percent' of the funding," the select committee said. "Mr. Jones spoke at the January 5th rally on Freedom Plaza that was sponsored by the Eighty Percent Coalition. Mr. Jones has stated that he was told by the White House that he was to lead a march from the January 6th Ellipse rally to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group and speak. Mr. Jones has repeatedly promoted unsupported allegations of election fraud, including encouraging individuals to attend the Ellipse rally on January 6th and implying he had knowledge about the plans of the former President with respect to the rally."
After Jones was featured multiple times in Tuesday's select committee hearing, his wife publicly posted she has "insider info" she would like to present to Congress.
The day after the attack on the Capitol, she called for the FBI to investigate.
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