Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claims to have been beset by a mysterious medical condition days before he was scheduled for a deposition in a lawsuit over his false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.
But lawyers for the victims’ families suing Jones are suspicious about his claim that he’s now too sick to sit for the deposition, pointing out that Jones managed to host his InfoWars show for hours while he was supposedly receiving emergency care from a doctor.
Jones took the rapid-onset illness excuse further on Wednesday, skipping a court-ordered deposition as a judge in the case raised even more questions about whether he's really sick.
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On this week’s episode of The Daily Beast’s Fever Dreams podcast, hosts Asawin Suebsaeng and Will Sommer discussed the InfoWars boss’s sudden new illness.
“This is the kind of surprise tactic that he might use to avoid the deposition,” Sommer said.
You can listen and subscribe to Fever Dreams on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Jones’ mystery illness first made an appearance in a Monday motion by his lawyers, who sought to delay the deposition after learning that Jones was “under the care of a physician for medical conditions that require immediate, and possibly, emergency testing.” A lawyer for Jones claimed in a motion that Jones hadn’t given him permission to reveal the medical condition.
That hasn’t convinced lawyers for the Sandy Hook families. In a court filing on Tuesday, they called Jones’ mystery illness an “obvious gambit” meant to prevent Jones from answering questions under oath.
A lawyer for Jones provided the court with a doctor’s note claiming Jones was recovering from home. But Jones was still able to record his four-hour show, apparently from his studio, on Monday afternoon—when he was supposedly under the doctor’s care. The lawyers noted that the only doctor he was near at the time, InfoWars guest and prominent ivermectin booster Dr. Ben Marble, didn’t appear to be treating Jones for anything.
On Tuesday, the judge in charge of the case raised the possibility that Jones’ lawyer “unknowingly misled” the court, and demanded to know whether Jones recorded the Monday broadcast from his studio or his home.
“If you’re going to fake an illness, you can’t go on your show afterwards, you’ve got to at least disappear or something like that,” Sommer said on the podcast.
“Just post to your Instagram: you holding a mug of coffee or something in bed, in your big ol’ Alex Jones robe,” Suebsaeng said. “Just put a little bit of effort into it.”
Jones and InfoWars lost the lawsuit in November, when a Connecticut judge took the rare step of ruling them in default after years of alleged violations of courtroom procedure. It’s not clear yet, though, how much Jones and his media outlet will have to pay in damages. An attorney representing Jones didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Also on the episode, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac joins to talk about his recent article on right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel’s turn as one of the most prominent Republican donors of 2022.
Suebsaeng and Sommer also discussed increasing aggression from the trucker’s convoy circling Washington, D.C., and a bruising Republican Senate primary in Ohio. While Donald Trump so far hasn’t endorsed any candidate, the race has taken an unusually heated turn.
On Wednesday, March 23, at 2 PM ET Fever Dreams’ hosts and producer will participate in a Twitter Space event with listeners to celebrate the podcast’s first anniversary.
