Far-right commentator Alex Jones claimed on Saturday that federal authorities are seeking to shut down InfoWars, his website and talk show, which have been accused of promoting conspiracy theories.
“I’ve been under attack. I’ve been gaslit,” Jones said, accusing federal authorities of filing “secret federal filings” that alleged that the talk show host was “committing crimes,” a clip of the broadcast shared by The Post Millenial showed. (Warning: The language is graphic.)
“You want…war, you got it,” the show host added, clenching his fists and letting out a stream of expletives while his face turned red. “I did not believe America was as corrupt as this.”
“This country is administratively got a bunch of scum in charge of it,” Jones added.
Jones is a defendant in multiple defamation lawsuits over his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax staged by the U.S. government to promote gun control and that the victims and the perpetrator were all paid actors. Jones’ requests to dismiss the lawsuits were unsuccessful.
In October 2022, as ABC News reported at the time, a Connecticut jury on October 2022 awarded the relatives of the shooting victims up to $965 million in damages for Jones statements that the jury deemed defamatory.
A judge later added $473 million in punitive damages, according to Reuters.
Subsequently, Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy reorganization, The Associated Press reported.
The families of the shooting victims, according to the news agency, contested Jones’ move by filing a motion to demand a liquidation of Jones’ assets, alleging that Jones was not making progress on paying what he owed the families.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez is set to decide on the motion on June 14, the news wire reported.
“Alex Jones just broadcast today that government is right now in the process of attempting to illegally seize the InfoWars studios, to put locks on the doors, then force liquidate all broadcast assets, to silence [Jones],” Mike Adams, an associate of Jones said, wrote in a Saturday post on the HealthRanger account on X.
“Alex slept in his studio last night and has publicly said he would call local police to stop the illegal federal raid on his studios. Details are coming in slowly, situation is uncertain.”
The victims’ families are particularly frustrated with what they consider to be exorbitant spending by Jones despite his bankruptcy proceedings, the New York Post reported in September 2023, citing Jones’ bankruptcy documents.
For instance, the newspaper reported that Jones hands out $15,000 to his wife, Erika Wulff Jones, every month—payments deemed “fraudulent transfers” by lawyers representing Sandy Hook victims’ families.
However, Jones maintained that a prenuptial agreement mandates the disbursements, according to the Post.
“It is disturbing that Alex Jones continues to spend money on excessive household expenditures and his extravagant lifestyle when that money rightfully belongs to the families he spent years tormenting,” Christopher Mattei, a lawyer representing the families, told the Post.
Jones, on the other hand, claimed in his Saturday broadcast, sobbing, that the “deep state” was seeking to ruin him,” the Post reported.
“I’ve been targeted for abuse. I was duped by someone. Federal files in secret have claimed that I’m committing crimes,” Jones said, according to a clip shared on X. “This was untrue, of course.”
