Lawyers representing families of Sandy Hook mass shooting victims in a defamation suit accused InfoWars host and defendant Alex Jones of sending electronic files containing child pornography as part of the discovery process. They also accused Jones of threatening one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Jones’s defense attorney said, however, that Jones never threatened the attorney and that federal prosecutors told them there was “no indication anyone at InfoWars knowingly possessed child pornography.”
In documents filed Monday in Connecticut Superior Court, lawyers for the plaintiffs said they contacted the FBI following the discovery of child pornography in files Jones recently turned over during discovery. They also requested that the court take action after Jones allegedly threatened a lawyer for the plaintiffs by name.
“On June 14, 2019 (this past Friday), defendant Alex Jones broadcast two segments of The Alex Jones Show identifying Attorney Chris Mattei by name and showing a picture of him, falsely claiming that Attorney Mattei tried to frame Jones by planting child pornography in discovery materials produced by Jones, distorting what actually occurred in the discovery process in this case, and threatening Attorney Mattei and the Koskoff firm,” the lawyers said.
“This court has an obligation to protect the attorneys, parties and the judicial process,” they continued. “Here, threats against counsel have been made on air to a very large audience.”
The allegations that Jones threatened Mattei stem from Friday’s episode of Jones’ show.
“We all know who did it,” Jones said, during a profanity laden tirade.
“You’re trying to set me up with child porn, I’m going to get your ass. One million dollars, one million dollars you little gang member. One million dollars to put your head on a pike. One million dollars, bitch. I am going to get your ass,” Jones yelled, before claiming that he was going to “publish all the metadata” from the emails in question.
“I pray for divine intervention against the powers of Satan. I literally would never have sex with children. I don’t like having sex with children. I would never have sex with children, I am not a Democrat, I am not a liberal,” he said, while sitting alongside his attorney, Norm Pattis.
Following Friday’s show, Pattis told the CT Post that Jones did not threaten Mattei.
“Mr. Jones was upset, he did not threaten Mr. Mattei,” Pattis said. “He spoke in a compassionate fashion.”
Pattis told Law&Crime on Monday that authorities had already informed him that it appeared neither his client nor InfoWars had any knowledge of child porn being present in the electronic files.
“I spoke to federal prosecutors last week,” Pattis said. “They report that there is no indication anyone at InfoWars knowingly possessed child pornography. The items were embedded in emails sent to folks at InfoWars without ever having been opened.”
A hearing relating to the matter has been scheduled before Judge Barbara Bellis in Connecticut Superior Court on Tuesday.
Jones previously had to sit for a deposition about Sandy Hook Elementary School conspiracy theories. The plaintiffs, families of five children and two adults who were murdered in Newtown, Connecticut, sued Jones for defamation due to his “years-long campaign of abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones that day are paid actors who faked their relative’s deaths.”
[image via InfoWars screengrab]
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