Text messages belonging to right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones were turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to CNN.
The messages were given to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that last week after suing Jones for spreading conspiracy theories about the massacre.
Bankston revealed during the trial that Jones’ lawyers “messed up” and sent him every text message Jones sent in the past two years. Jones’ attorney tried to get the judge to block the texts from being handed to Congress but the judge declined.
The panel declined to comment and Bankston told CNN that he was “cooperating with the committee.”
Jones has testified before the January 6 committee, but later said on his show that he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
According to CNN, Jones was riling up rioters on restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, but he did not go into the building. He has also denied having any involvement in the planning of the violence that took place that day.
“We know that his behavior did incentivize some of the January 6 conduct and we want to know more about that,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren a member of the Jan. 6 committee told CNN on Sunday. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look at it and learn more, I’m sure.”
