Alex Jones’ attorney says Jan. 6 committee requested 2 years' records

AUSTIN, Texas - An attorney representing two parents who sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his false claims about the Sandy Hook massacre said Thursday that the House Jan. 6 committee requested two years worth of records from Jones' phone.

Mark Bankston, attorney, said in court that the committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has requested the digital records.

The House committee did not return a request for comment.

A day earlier, Bankston revealed in court that Jones's attorney has mistakenly sent Bankston texts from Jones' mobile for the last two years.

Jones attorney Andino Reynal sought a mistrial over the mistaken transfer of records and said they should have been returned and any copies destroyed.

He accused Bankston of trying to perform for a national audience. Reynal said that the material included a review copy of text messages over six months from late 2019 into the first quarter of 2020.

Attorneys for the Sandy Hook parents said they followed Texas civil rules of evidence and that Jones attorneys missed their chance to request the return of the records.

The fig leaf is used by Reynal to cover his own malpractice, Bankston said.

Bankston said that the records mistakenly sent to him included medical records of plaintiffs in other lawsuits against Jones.

Bankston referred to the longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, saying that Jones and his intimate messages with Roger Stone are not protected.

The Jan. 6 committee is preparing to request the data from the parents' attorneys to assist in the investigation of the deadly riot, according to unnamed sources.

A jury in Austin, Texas is going to decide how much Jones should be paid to the parents of a child killed in the 2012 school massacre because Infowars falsely claimed that the shooting was a hoax created by advocates for gun control.

The House Jan. 6 committee showed graphic and violent text messages and videoed videos of right-wing figures, including Jones, and others, vowing that Jan. 6 would be the day they would fight for Trump.

The Jan. 6 committee first subpoenaed Jones in November, demanding a deposition and documents related to his efforts to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and a rally on the day of the attack.

In the subpoena letter, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman, said Jones helped organize the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse that preceded the insurrection. He wrote that Jones repeatedly promoted Trump's false claims of election fraud, urged his listeners to go to Washington for the rally and march from the Ellipse to the Capitol. Thompson wrote that Jones made statements implying that they had knowledge about the plans of President Trump with respect to the rally. The nine-member panel was particularly interested in what Jones said shortly after Trump's now-infamous Dec. 19, 2020 tweet, in which he told his supporters to be there, and was wild! The letter continued, after you went on InfoWars and called the tweet one of the most historic events in American history.

In January, Jones was deposed by the committee in a hourslong virtual meeting in which he said he exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination almost 100 times.