For a man so up in arms about being thrust in front of a “kangaroo court,” Alex Jones appears to be trying his hardest to make a mockery of the ongoing defamation suit brought against him by Sandy Hook parents.
The final afternoon of testimony in Jones’ two-week trial got off to a rocky start on Tuesday, with the judge presiding over the Austin case reprimanding the notorious conspiracy theorist as he appeared to chew something in court.
“Spit your gum out, Mr. Jones,” said Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, eyeing Jones grimly from behind the bench.
“It’s not gum,” the far-right broadcaster retort immediately. Jones claimed that he’d had a tooth pulled late last month, and that he was massaging the hole in his mouth with his tongue.
“Would you like me to show ya?” he asked, leaning in.
“…I don’t want to see the inside of your mouth,” Gamble said, admonishing him to “sit down.”
The terse exchange came after a morning of emotional testimony from plaintiff Neil Heslin, the father of 6-year-old shooting victim Jesse Lewis. Heslin and Lewis’ mother, Scarlett Lewis, are seeking at least $150 million from Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, in compensatory damages. (Free Speech Systems filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week, according to the Austin American-Statesmanthough this is not expected to impact the trial.)
The parents contend in their 2018 lawsuit that Jones baselessly claimed the massacre was a hoax orchestrated by the government, dragging them—and other Sandy Hook families—through years of harassment and pain.
“I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said.
Jones was not present in court during Heslin’s testimony, the Associated Press reported. Heslin criticized his absence from him, calling it “cowardly.”
“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming… to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” he said.
Jones went so far as to take potshots at the families from afar, calling them “pawns” in an episode of his Infowars show that aired Tuesday, according to Media Matters for America.
Later in the episode, an aggrieved Jones blasted Gamble and the lawyers representing Lewis’ parents, calling them “caricatures of what you would imagine in some alternate universe of dwarf goblins.”
“It’s demonic,” he added. “They all act demonically possessed. The judge, the lawyers. It’s surreal to be around them. And it makes you feel sorry for them because these people are committed to occult ideology of the new world order.”
Footage from the episode was introduced by the prosecution in court later that same day, while Scarlett Lewis was on the stand. She was asked how the clip made her feel, and she leveled her gaze at Jones, who had arrived at the Texas courthouse at that point.
“It’s horrible. Horrific. Horrific,” she said, according to the Independent.
Jones, who has attempted to spin the complaint against him as an attack on his First Amendment rights, had rolled up to the courthouse after the morning session. A piece of duct tape covering his mouth had the phrase “Save the 1st” plastered across it.
To reporters outside, Jones raged against Judge Gamble, accusing her of rigging the trial. “All I did was speculate and ask questions—I have a right to do that,” he smoked.
Jones is expected to testify as the defense’s only witness later on Tuesday.
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