Alex Jones’s defamation trial exploded in spectacular fashion a week ago today, following the revelation that the Infowars founder’s lawyer had sent the full contents of Jones’s phone to the attorney representing the Sandy Hook parents suing him.
Footage of Jones learning this while on the witness stand sallied forth across Twitter in a flurry of blue-check hysteria.
NBC disinformation reporter Ben Collins tweeted:
“Wow. Sandy Hook parents’ lawyer is revealing that Alex Jones’ lawyers sent him the contents of Jones’ phone BY MISTAKE.
“’12 days ago, your attorneys messed up and sent me a digital copy of every text’ Jones has sent for years.
“’You know what perjury is?’ the lawyer asks.”
“Do you know what perjury is?” pic.twitter.com/awbBpVf4Tl
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 3, 2022
“Is it possible this gets better the second day you watch it?” tweeted Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko.
“The moment conspiracy theorist Alex Jones realises his lawyer sent the Sandy Hook families’ lawyer all of his texts and emails by mistake,” wrote Irish Virgin correspondent Richard Chambers.
Jones was found guilty by the jury on Friday, which awarded $45.2 million in punitive damages to the Sandy Hook parents — though due to Texas law, Jones will likely only pay a fraction of that amount. However, he is set to face more trials, both in the same court and in Connecticut.
Amid the schadenfreude, Cockburn was intrigued at various posters’ confidence that Jones’s attorneys had sent the messages “accidentally” or “by mistake,” taking the Sandy Hook lawyer at face value when he asserted that they had “messed up.”
People were too eager to believe that the very dumb Alex Jones had hired very dumb attorneys who couldn’t stop themselves from making a very dumb mistake.
It seems too good to be true. No, Cockburn suspects that there could be more to the story than meets the eye.
What if, for example, Jones’s lawyers knew their client had, against their advice, lied under oath in his deposition? And what if they “accidentally” passed the messages to the Sandy Hook lawyers and the judge in discovery… on purpose?
Why would they do this? Well, what if the Jones lawyers, given they knew their client had lied under oath, were concerned that they might find themselves accused of suborning perjury?
According to this Texas legal blog, “Since perjury is a crime of moral turpitude, an attorney facing charges is in jeopardy of facing sanctions and being disbarred.”
Would Jones’s lawyers really want to put their license to practice law on the line? For Alex Jones?
In a situation when an attorney’s client has lied in their deposition, one course of action would be to withdraw representation. But would “accidentally” sending proof of the client’s perjury not be another option for the Jones attorneys, so they could fulfill their ethical obligation to the court and save their skins?
When the story involves Alex Jones, you can never ask too many questions.
