Far-right media personality and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' lawyer has stated that the Infowars broadcaster does not believe that the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax.
Jones' lawyer made the statement in a motion for a defamation lawsuit brought against the conspiracy theorist by Sandy Hook victims' families. According to Jones' attorney Jay M. Wolman, while Jones initially questioned its legitimacy, he does not believe that the shooting was a hoax.
"The assassination of President Kennedy. The lunar landings. The September 11 attacks. Sandy Hook. From these shocking events emerged some people who thought them so disruptive that they questioned whether they even happened, scouring records in support of evidence that might prove them hoaxes. Alex Jones, host of a radio show and publisher of InfoWars, firmly believes that the December 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was not a hoax," the statement said according to The Courant.
He also used Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's using "Deep Throat" as a source in the Watergate reporting as a defense for Jones.
As previously reported, Jones has tried to have the case brought against him delayed at least three times, but was denied by the Connecticut Supreme Court. The filing says that Jones referred to the shooting as "fake" or a "hoax" once in a December 2014 show. In 2015 on Infowars, Jones said that the shootings did not take place.
In his filing, Wolman said that while the families underwent hardship, he defended Jones' right to freedom of speech. "Alex Jones and InfoWars are not responsible for that tragedy. To punish them for First Amendment protected speech on this matter of public concern will not bring back the lives lost," he wrote.
In 2018, a group of Sandy Hook parents first filed a lawsuit against Jones. Jones had claimed the shooting was staged and some of the grieving parents were actors. Despite first blaming his comments on "a form of psychosis," he later admitted that the tragedy happened. "I've had a chance to believe that children died and it's a tragedy," he said.
During a deposition, shared by Huffpost in 2019, a lawyer asked Jones if he believed the official story of what happened at Sandy Hook. Jones responded by saying that he did believe the shooting happened, but there was also some "cover-up" involved. "I think children died. I believe mass shootings happen," he said. "I go back to the point of all gun owners being collectively blamed, then it's traumatic so people go and they find anomalies, and I've kind of retrospectively gone back and seen how I did believe that stuff."
He then continued to say he studied "real anomalies" of the shooting. "It's just the school system and government trying to cover its rear end from liability," he said. "There's been a cover-up of the events."
Newsweek reached out via email to the press contact for Jones' attorney's law firm for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
