The House Jan. 6 committee has received a copy of Alex Jones’s phone containing a trove of communications dating back roughly two years, according to a new report.
Sandy Hook lawyer Mark Bankston has handed a copy of Jones’s phone, which he revealed during a fiery courtroom hearing in a defamation case last week that he accidentally received it from Jones’s lawyers, to the Jan. 6 committee, a source told CNN. The phone, which Jones’s lawyers failed to declare as privileged information, contains a trove of text messages and emails, the report said.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE TO SUBPOENA ALEX JONES FOR RECORDS ACCIDENTALLY GIVEN TO SANDY HOOK TEAM: REPORT
“I’m not standing between you and Congress,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who oversaw the defamation trial, told Bankston when Jones’s lawyers sought to destroy the file and block him from handing it over, per the report. “That is not my job. I’m not going to do that.”
Following revelations about the accidental divulging of the copy of his phone, the Jan. 6 committee reportedly expressed interest in obtaining it for its sprawling inquiry.
Although Jones did not enter the Capitol on the day of the Jan. 6 riot, he participated in rallies against the election that preceded the storming of the Capitol. Jan. 6 panelists are also interested in his ties to Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, whom Jones interviewed for his InfoWars show, Rolling Stone reported.
“Well, we know that his behavior did incentivize some of the Jan. 6 conduct, and we want to know more about that,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said Sunday. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look at it and learn more, I’m sure.”
Bankston confirmed that he was “cooperating with the committee” but declined to say whether he turned over the file, reports said.
Jones was ordered to pay roughly $45.2 million in penalties for the Sandy Hook defamation case last week after the parents of one of the children gunned down in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School sued Jones for defamation, claiming that he peddled false claims that the massacre was a hoax. A total of 26 people died in the tragic shooting.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Jones lied during discovery when Jones claimed he searched his phone and could not find communications about Sandy Hook, Bankston argued.
“Do you know what perjury is?” pic.twitter.com/awbBpVf4Tl
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 3, 2022
“I told you the truth. This is your Perry Mason moment. I gave them my phone,” Jones countered to Bankston.
A representative for the Jan. 6 committee told the Washington Examiner: “We decline to comment” on whether the panel received the file.
