Alex Jones was grilled on the stand Thursday for calling the judge in his Sandy Hook defamation trial a “tyrant” — and confronted with an Infowars meme that showed her with lasers shooting out of her eyes.
An attorney for families of victims — who are suing Jones for calling the 2012 Connecticut school shooting a hoax — asked the conspiracy theorist whether he believed presiding Judge Barbara Bellis was a tyrant, and if he calls a lot of people that.
“Only when they act like it,” Jones replied.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Chris Mattei, followed up by directing Jones’ attention to a meme shared on his Infowars site depicting the judge with lasers coming out of her eyes, alongside the word “Contempt!”
“One way that you’ve been conveying to your audience that Judge Bellis has been acting like a tyrant is by showing her with lasers coming out of her eyes, right?” Mattei asked, as the image was shown on a screen inside the courtroom and Bellis herself looked on.
“I didn’t direct that,” Jones, 48, responded. “The first time I saw it was in court.”
The far-right Infowars founder took the stand on the seventh day of his trial stemming from a lawsuit filed by parents of some of the young Sandy Hook victims who claim Jones’ repeated lies that the massacre never happened caused them significant pain and suffering.
Jones held a news conference Wednesday outside Waterbury Superior Court, in which he slammed the trial — as he has on his Infowars show — calling it a “travesty of justice” and the judge a “tyrant.”
He made similar comments before his testimony on Thursday — which got off to a tense start as he immediately began sparring with Mattei.
The attorney accused Jones of using the proceedings as a “marketing opportunity” on Infowars, pointing to a page on the website titled “Kangaroo Court,” where followers could watch the trial live.
“You’ve been calling [this trial] a kangaroo court yourself, right? And you’ve called the judge a tyrant?” Mattei asked.
That’s when Jones reluctantly agreed to the statements, saying that he only uses the term “tyrant” “when they act like it.”
The interrogation quickly deteriorated, as Jones continued to deflect ownership over the image.
He and Mattei clashed throughout the proceedings, requiring the judge to remind both men multiple times to refrain from excess commentary.
At one point, he appeared reluctant to look Bellis in the eye when she requested that he listen to her instructions.
When reminded that he could only answer in the form of “Yes,” “No” or “I don’t know,” Jones protested that “These are not ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions!”
At another point, he demanded that Mattei refresh his memory about his own deposition.
Mattei’s frustration came to a head when he questioned Jones about a 2011 Rolling Stone profile.
Jones said he recalled the interview only “vaguely,” despite featuring it prominently on his website.
“Do you take responsibility for anything, Mr. Jones?” Mattei asked.
Last month, Jones was found liable for spreading wild claims about the shootings in another Sandy Hook trial in Texas, with grieving parents awarded nearly $50 million in damages for being subjected to the cruel claims for years.
Jones now claims he does accept that the shooting took place.
A jury of three men and three women in the ongoing Waterbury, Connecticut, trial will decide how much Jones owes eight other families of victims, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the shooting at the Newtown school.
With Post wires
