Did Alex Jones learn nothing from the public humiliation of his first Sandy Hook defamation trial? We ask only because the latest news surrounding the InfoWars host suggests he either has selective amnesia about how that first court case turned out, or he really is just that hardheaded.
Here’s the update: Jones, who was already ordered to shell out $49 million to the family of one Sandy Hook victim, is now heading into a second defamation trial set to take place in Connecticut. This latest lawsuit was filed by parents of more victims of the 2012 school shooting plus one FBI officer who responded to the scene. Even though Jones should know how to act after making an enemy out of his last presiding judge, the TV snake-oil salesman is apparently up to his old tricks, as evidenced by his behavior in court earlier today.
“This has never before been done in U.S. history. It’s a struggle session, right out of communist China or South Africa,” Jones said of the proceedings, via Mediaite. “This is serious tyranny, regardless of what you think about me or how the media has twisted what I said over the years, I’ve apologized for past things I said that hurt people’s feelings.”
Jones has already been found liable in the case for using the tragic massacre to spread unfounded conspiracy theories that banked InfoWars millions in revenue over the years. The hearings this week are to determine how much he owes his victims, and whatever remorse the right-wing blowhard seemed to have after the verdict of his first case was rendered — he’s not feeling sorry anymore.
“I wasn’t the first person to question Sandy Hook,” he continued. “And I apologized, years ago, they have misrepresented what I’ve said and done. There is a whole industry of lawyers around these families that have sued Remington and won $73 million and won all these other lawsuits. And they simply now are not just coming for the second amendment, but the first amendment, this is a travesty of justice.”
In fact, Jones pulled from his old playbook, eventually lumping the judge in with the people who are “out to get him.”
“This judge is a tyrant,” he ranted. “This judge is ordering me to say that I’m guilty. And to say that I’m a liar. None of that’s true. I was not wrong about Sandy Hook on purpose. I questioned it.”
Just a reminder to Jones and anyone else wondering: The first amendment protects the right to free speech, it doesn’t protect you from the consequences of the things you say — especially when those things involve labeling one of the worst school shootings in our country’s history as a “hoax,” targeting grieving families who suffered unimaginable loss and profiting off the death of six-year-old children.
(Via Mediaite)