Infowars host Alex Jones fails to appear for Sandy Hook deposition

Infowar host Alex Jones failed to appear for a Wednesday deposition related to the lawsuit filed against him by families of victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, which Jones had falsely labeled as a hoax.

Jones did not appear for his court-ordered deposition on Wednesday due to medical conditions his doctors observed on Monday, his attorney Norman Pattis said in court filings, according to The Associated Press. However, his lawyers acknowledged that his daily website show had been broadcast on Tuesday.

“This, in our view, was a cowardly display intended to cheat the plaintiffs of their right to put him under oath,” Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the families, said during a news conference, according to the AP, “and ask him questions about why over the course of many years he lied about them, he lied about the loved ones that they lost at Sandy Hook and why he unleashed a barrage of harassment over many years that continues to this day.”

Mattei said that if he could not have an arrest order approved to compel the conspiracy theorist to come for his deposition, he would seek a subpoena, instead, the AP reported. 

The Hill has reached out to Mattei and Pattis for comment. 

Jones, who founded the right-wing Infowars website, was found liable in several Sandy Hook cases brought by family members because he did not provide information, including financial records, when ordered by the court.

The Infowars founder said that the 2012 shooting, which left 26 people dead including 20 children, was a hoax but  later backtracked those comments in 2019. He then claimed his previous comments came from a “a form of psychosis” and said the shooting had occurring during a deposition, The Washington Post reported.