Alex Jones in airport showdown with TSA for refusing to remove his shoes

The conspiracy theory-peddling website Infowars reported on Monday that its founder, Alex Jones, was threatening to sue the federal government after Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) agents at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport "detained" him for refusing to remove his shoes.

Infowars posted several photos of a defiant Jones with his finger in the chest of a police officer while standing in what appeared to be metal detector.

The report indicated that police had been called to the scene by TSA agents after Jones refused to remove his shoes on the grounds that several other passengers had gone through the checkpoint without removing their shoes.

"Despite Jones’ protests that he was clearly being discriminated against because he was a known critic of the TSA (the rest of the TSA screeners also knew him by name), the officer growled, 'Take your damn shoes off or I’m gonna arrest you,'" according to Inforwars.

The radio host argued that he had not wanted to take off his shoes because "he had caught athletes foot from that very process in another airport."

Although he did eventually eventually agree to be searched, he claimed that TSA screeners manually set off the metal detector, "possibly by order of the officer, so that they could harass Jones further."

Jones was reportedly traveling to New York to appear on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight.

Infowars also posted a photo of the confrontation on Facebook, but not everyone was supportive.

"Like the TSA or not Alex Jones is full of shit," Ray Lynch wrote. "You put your fucking finger in my face like that and your God-damned shoes are going to be the least of your problems. Purely a stunt. While I'm at it.....fuck Piers Morgan too. I'm surprised they didn't 'plant' marijuana or a gun on him. I'd give the police officer a commendation for not beating that mother fucker's ass on video. That's clearly what he was looking for."

Watch this video from Alex Jones, uploaded to YouTube Jan. 6, 2013.