Posted on 08/03/2022 7:48:07 PM PDT by Subcutaneous Fishstick Blues
Television host Alex Jones on Aug. 3 said he believes the mass shooting that took place in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012 was “100 percent real.”
“Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100 percent real,” Jones said while on the stand in a courtroom in Austin, Texas.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was among the 26 people killed in the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, filed a defamation suit in 2018 after a host on Jones’ network, InfoWars, said that Heslin was lying about holding his son’s body after the shooting.
Jones, the suit noted, has described the attack as “staged” and “a giant hoax.”
Jones, InfoWars, and another company he runs, Free Speech Systems, were named as defendants, along with the host, Owen Shroyer.
A judge in the area in 2021 entered a default judgment against the defendants because they failed to comply with duties related to discovery.
The trial happening now is to determine how much Jones will have to pay in damages.
Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology wouldn’t suffice and that Jones needed to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack. They are seeking at least $150 million.
Closing arguments were expected to begin later Wednesday after more testimony from Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights.
Jones is the only person testifying in his own defense. His attorney asked him if he now understands it was “absolutely irresponsible” to push the false claims that the massacre didn’t happen and no one died.
Jones said he does, but added, “They won’t let me take it back.”
He also 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.”
Parents’ Testimony
Heslin testified earlier this week that statements made by Jones were “very disturbing.”
“I just couldn’t fathom or understand why people would question such a horrific tragedy and a loss. I still to this day can’t fathom it,” he said.
Lewis, meanwhile, spoke directly to Jones, telling him: “It doesn’t exist, that I’m ‘deep state.’ It’s just not true. I know you know that.”
She wondered why Jones made such statements, questioning whether it was for financial gain.
Jones has been broadcasting as the trial goes on, saying at one point that Heslin is “being manipulated by some very bad people” and is “slow” while Lewis “is not.”
“Do you think I’m an actor?” Lewis asked.
“No, I don’t think you’re an actor,” Jones responded before the judge admonished him to be quiet until called to testify.
Also on Tuesday, Jones told the parents, “I never intentionally tried to hurt you.”
“I never even said your name until this case came to court. I didn’t even really know who you were until a couple of years ago when all this started up,” he said.
Jones said he questions “every big event” and that “a lot of times it turns out that we’ve not been told the truth.”
Jones destroyed in reputation and will never get it back.
“Doesn’t even an oddball like Jones have First Amendment rights of does that only apply to liberal nutjob?”
The first amendment says the government can’t put you in jail for what you say. It does not say that some other American cannot sue you for defamation of character.
Actually, if it was up to me I would allow the descendants of historical figures to also sue when their ancestor is defamed. That’s the only way I can think of to stop Hollywood from lying about history, which they frequently do.
Never said he was going to jail. But he is getting unequal treatment for basically the same thing that the liberal media got a ay by a liberal judge that dismissed the libel case brought by Sandman against said foes.
Yet nutball Jones is getting slammed for libeling the Sandyhook families?
Something not right.
Finally forced to tell the truth when faced with a possible $150 million judgement
Uh, that’s not what alot of case law has ruled.
Lots of people have sued big media interests for libel and lost. One being Sarah Palin sued the NY Times and lost. Times hid behind the First Amendment and Palin couldn’t prove “Malice”
At least that’s my understanding of it.
I could be mistaken.
Whataboutism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
Just sayin’.
An event so real that you will be sued into bankruptcy for questioning it.
Duh!
> One being Sarah Palin sued the NY Times and lost. <
I think that was because Palin is a public figure. The bar is set much higher in those cases, as it should be.
Anyway, you’re right about the unequal treatment. Sandmann is a not a public figure. He certainly should have prevailed in his lawsuits. He was smeared almost as badly as that Sandy Hook parent was.
Well said.
Nothing is ever right when the left is involved.
And this is the left against Jones.
They mean to teach us a lesson.
That’s what the guy said to Zeldin.
He had to say that. I would to if They were going to steal millions from me.
He was being stupid, but if everyone who said something stupid was successfully sued the country would be bankrupt.
He called the shootings a hoax, multiple times.
“ “I just couldn’t fathom or understand why people would question such a horrific tragedy and a loss. I still to this day can’t fathom it,” he said.”
Yes, but the fact that some people CAN question it is the whole problem with modern day news and government. The media and government lack credibility and yet somehow hold themselves out beyond question. They should ask themselves why that is!
“ “I just couldn’t fathom or understand why people would question such a horrific tragedy and a loss. I still to this day can’t fathom it,” he said.”
Yes, but the fact that some people CAN question it is the whole problem with modern day news and government. The media and government lack credibility and yet somehow hold themselves out beyond question. They should ask themselves why that is!
“ Whataboutism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
Exactly. This is how the left gets away with doing everything of which they accuse others, so we may not respond.
I lived in Newtown.
I moved 2 weeks before the shooting.
I’m friends and a relative of some first responders. I saw all of the media footage. I heard all of the police scanners. I looked at the evidence first hand. I toured the school that was setup to secretly house the kids for the next school year.
It was a total false flag. Some kids died. But not as many as reported. The entire thing had more holes than 911 or the killing of Osama bin laden.
It was mostly staged.
Come at me, bro. (Not aimed at Max Americana).
I also reached out to Jones and got no where close to a reply. And I tried.
There is a chance that the truth lies half way between official media reports. And the mouth of Alex Jones. A man who absolutely sobered over how great Keith Olbermann was.
As stated, I have a very good memory, and it may be coincidence.
The time flight TWA 800 crashed, I was going thru the channels and on NBC, they interviewed a couple on the beach stating “something came out of the sea and hit the plane”. I thought there would be a follow-up on the late news on that one but none..
9/11 and the claims of the left that Muslims were not celebrating. Well, I watched CNN and they had a segment of muslim women dancing in Brooklyn and interviews by CNN with some them saying “they are happy that America hurt”. Yes, I saw that and I’m sure CNN has that in their vaults..
Why did the Uvalde police take 78 minutes to actually do their jobs? I could go on.
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