Right-wing broadcaster Alex Jones took the stand in his Sandy Hook defamation trial Thursday, bringing with him the kind of chaos and confusion that caused the judge to joke during Wednesday’s proceedings that she was going to call in sick for his testimony.
The conspiracy theorist, who promoted the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, will testify in Connecticut throughout the day. This trial is to determine how much he will have to pay the families of victims impacted by his lies.
Jurors over the past week have heard testimony from relatives of slaughtered kids and adults claiming Jones’ followers have threatened and harassed them in the aftermath of the “Infowars” host’s reporting.
Right off the bat Thursday, Jones seemed to annoy Judge Barbara Bellis of Connecticut Superior Court by saying that he doesn’t think this was an important case. He was then reminded to simply answer the questions he’s asked.
The 48-year-old broadcaster also implied he was being sued by the FBI, which the plaintiff’s attorney questioned. Jones conceded technically he is not the defendant in any cases in which the FBI is a plaintiff, but argued that it was a convoluted “deep state situation.”
Bellis advised Jones to take a breath. After taking a sip of water, he followed her advice and said, “I’ll slow down.”
An attorney for the families suing Jones asked the defendant to confirm that during a news conference earlier in the week he referred to Bellis as a “tyrant.”
Jones confirmed that referring to people as tyrants isn’t uncommon for him.
“Only when they act like it,” he replied.
Jones was found liable for defamation in 2021 and ordered by a Texas jury to pay nearly $50 million to victims who sued him in his home state, which is where he broadcasts his “Infowars” program.
The judge had issued instructions that Jones was to address questions as asked in addition to being reminded that what’s at issue now is how much money he owes, not whether or not the defamation occurred.
Jones claimed in news conferences Tuesday and Wednesday that he believed what he was saying when he reported the 26 children and educators killed by a gunman in Sandy Hook Elementary School may have been actors trying to advance a pro-gun control agenda.
During his testimony Thursday, Jones invoked terms like “globalists” and “freedom,” but was reined in by the court before launching into one of his trademark rants.
Testimony was interrupted numerous times as the judge and lawyers met for sidebars dealing with both sides’ efforts to comply with the court’s instructions.
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