Here's how Alex Jones gave the Oath Keepers a platform to spread violent extremism

On Friday, CNN published an analysis of how Alex Jones, the infamous conspiracy theorist behind the far-right webcast Infowars, gave Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes a platform to spread anti-government extremism.

"Jones, who has built a staggering online following around his Infowars empire, has given Rhodes a platform to reach a wider audience -- from the day Rhodes plugged the Oath Keepers' first public meeting to the weeks surrounding the invasion of the US Capitol," reported Zachary Cohen and Curt Devine. "At the same time, Rhodes' Oath Keepers protected Jones at multiple 'Stop the Steal' rallies. The heady mix of access and influence came to a boil on January 6, 2021, with the Oath Keepers tasked with providing a personal security detail for Jones and Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander before the pro-Trump rally culminated with the deadly riot at the Capitol."

On Infowars, Rhodes pushed violent rhetoric for years.

"In 2012, Rhodes appeared on Jones' show and drew a comparison to the American Revolution during a conversation about alleged government abuse of power," said the report.

Rhodes said, "Just the same as the founders did, they exhausted all their peaceful means, but they also rallied more people to the cause, won more people over and steeled them up and hardened them, got them ready for the confrontation. That's what we have to do."

Rhodes and several other Oath Keepers are being charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Jones, meanwhile, is a subject of the House committee investigation into the attacks, and is currently suing the committee to block them from obtaining his phone records.

Reacting to the Rhodes indictment on Friday, Jones said, “If what they say about Stewart Rhodes is half true, I’m personally pissed. If things went off the way he wanted them to, if he wanted a bloody civil war to be triggered there, there might be millions dead, so this is a big problem folks.”