Far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, on the witness stand Wednesday testifying in a defamation suit against him, was confronted with a bombshell: his own lawyer accidentally emailed the attorney for the Sandy Hook families a digital copy of the contents of his cell phone.
“’12 days ago, your attorneys messed up and sent me a digital copy of every text'” Jones has sent for years, the attorney told him, according to NBC News reporter Ben Collins. The Sandy Hook families’ attorney added: “You know what perjury is?”
“Even Jones is stunned by the fact Sandy Hook parents seem to have his emails,” Collins notes. “Jones just called it their lawyers’ ‘Perry Mason moment.’ It’s shocking.”
Video of that moment can be seen here:
It appeared to get worse for Jones. The judge told the jury the data was improperly withheld.
“Judge instructing the jury on the entire contents of Alex Jones’ phone, which was accidentally handed over from Jones’ lawyers to the Sandy Hook parents’ lawyers: ‘What we do know is that it was not properly turned over when it should have been,'” Collins reveals.
Offering some real-time reporting, Collins adds:
The “Sandy Hook parents’ lawyer is now asking Jones about the times he has emailed about Sandy Hook over the last several years, despite testifying under oath he couldn’t find any emails about Sandy Hook. There are apparently a lot of them. One is on a screen right now.”
“If they keep that up, that’s ~$300 mill. a year,” Collins notes.
Brad Heath, a DC reporter for Reuters who covers crime and justice offers this perspective: “Can you be punished if opposing counsel unintentionally complies with a discovery order?”
Jones could be on the hook for $150 million, depending on what the jury decides.
Earlier Wednesday CBS News reported that Jones had “complained that he’s been ‘typecast as someone that runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off Sandy Hook, is obsessed by Sandy Hook.'”
But as Collins reports, the texts and emails from Jones’ cell phone “are FINALLY revealing financials behind Infowars. Some days in 2018, InfoWars was making $800,000 a day. ‘Well after your deplatforming, your numbers keep getting better,’ Sandy Hook parents’ lawyer says. If they keep that up, that’s ~$300 mill. a year.”
CBS News also reported that on the witness stand Jones admitted that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, during which 20 young children and six adults were shot to death, did happen. For years Jones has claimed it was false.
“Jones said Wednesday that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was ‘100% real,’ a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they’ve endured because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms.”
“It was … especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100% real,” Jones said.