InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could finally face legal consequences over his claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was a false flag, with multiple civil cases filed by relatives of the victims set for trial in the spring of 2022.
But the bombastic radio host has one last-ditch strategy before one of those lawsuits reaches a Connecticut courtroom next May: deposing former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
In a July 1 court filing, Jones’ lawyers asked a judge to order Clinton to be deposed in the case. Clinton, who Jones once baselessly claimed “personally murdered and chopped up” children, has no connection to any of the Sandy Hook lawsuits. But Jones’ attorneys insist that Clinton should be interviewed as a witness, implying in court filings that she could somehow be involved in funding or organizing the lawsuits.
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“The defendants in this case believe that this suit was filed six years after the shootings at Sandy Hook as part of a vendetta inspired, orchestrated and directed in whole or in part by Hillary Clinton as part of a vendetta to silence Alex Jones after Ms. Clinton lost the presidential race to Donald J. Trump,” the motion reads. “The litigation is brought and pursued in bad faith as part of a partisan effort to silence Mr. Jones for reasons wholly independent of the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims.”
The evidence behind Jones’ eye-catching claim that Clinton could have organized the lawsuit is thin to nonexistent. And it could result in new court sanctions against Jones, who is already on the hook for more than $150,000 in court fines over the Sandy Hook lawsuits playing out in Texas.
The attempt to depose Clinton is expected to be taken up in a future hearing. Lawyers for Jones and the Sandy Hook relatives didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The fight over Clinton’s deposition centers over a July 1 deposition Jones’ lawyers took of one of the Sandy Hook plaintiffs. The results of that deposition were under a court order ruling them “highly confidential” and “attorney’s eyes only,” according to the plaintiffs, meaning that they weren’t supposed to be revealed in the court record without a judge’s approval. Roughly halfway into the 13-hour deposition of the Sandy Hook plaintiff, however, one of Jones’s lawyers filed the motion to depose Clinton, citing a portion of the then-ongoing deposition of the Sandy Hook relative as evidence.
“At least one plaintiff has refused to answer how so many of the clients all ended up represented by the same firm,” the motion from Jones’ lawyers reads. “The witness claimed not to know how her legal fees were being paid.”
As further evidence of Clinton’s potential involvement in the case, Jones’ lawyers point to one of the Sandy Hook relatives speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 and being “praised” by Clinton. No other proof that Clinton is involved in the Sandy Hook lawsuits has been offered.
For their part, the lawyers for the Sandy Hook families say InfoWars’ attempts to interview Clinton are meant to distract from the lawsuit itself and provide Jones with new fodder to claim the case is the product of a conspiracy against him.
“It appears to be a publicity stunt in service of a new conspiracy theory by Alex Jones filed for the abusive purpose of deposing a highly prominent person who has no relation to this case,” the plaintiffs wrote in one filing.
The lawyers for the Sandy Hook relatives have asked the judge in the case to rule that the proposed deposition of Clinton would be “unnecessary and frivolous.” They’ve also asked for sanctions to be levied against Jones’ side, citing the use of the confidential deposition of the Sandy Hook plaintiff and an allegation that Jones’ team has refused to hand over accounting ledgers about InfoWars’ finances.
Jones and his affiliated companies are facing four Sandy Hook lawsuits in Texas, with the first set to start in March 2022. Mark Bankston, an attorney representing Sandy Hook families in the cases, said a deposition of Clinton hasn’t become a topic in the Texas suits—for now.
“InfoWars has not yet requested Secretary Clinton’s deposition in our case,” Mark Bankston, a lawyer handling the Texas cases, wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. “We’ll see what happens.”
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