A lawyer representing a former FBI agent who was recently targeted for investigation by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice bashed the Trump administration during an interview on CNN on Wednesday night.
Chris Mattei represents former FBI agent Bill Aldenberg, who was one of the first responders to the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. Aldenberg had testified against prominent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in his defamation case, which resulted in Jones being forced to sell his InfoWars outlet.
Last week, the Trump administration sent Aldenberg a letter saying he was being investigated for personally benefiting from the lawsuit against Jones. The letter was signed by Ed Martin, who has been at the forefront of the administration's mortgage fraud investigations into political opponents like Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The administration retracted that letter on Wednesday.
"Alex Jones is somebody who has lied about not just Sandy Hook but innumerable things," Mattei said. "After the landmarkverdict against him, Alex Jonesneeded to find some way to tryto delegitimize what he hadbeen exposed to in thecourtroom. And that was bylatching on to the fact that Bill Aldenberg happened to be anFBI agent."
"So he madesuggestions that our case wassome sort of deep stateoperation instead of an act ofagency by these survivors," he continued. "Andthat's exactly what Ed Martinparroted in his letter to me.So, yeah, there's no doubt that Alex Jones fed this to Ed Martin."
"We kind of saw this as a last gasp," he added. "And it's shocking that he had a willing accomplice in Ed Martin."