Alex Jones pleads the Fifth nearly 100 times to January 6 committee amid questions over role in Capitol riot

Right-wing broadcaster was outside the Capitol on January 6

A right-wing broadcaster famous for his embrace of wild conspiracies on a startling range of topics said on Monday that he exercised his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering nearly 100 questions asked by the January 6 committee during his testimony to the panel.

Alex Jones told listeners on Monday’s live recording of The Alex Jones Show that he “wanted” to answer the committee’s questions, many of which he said seemed valid, but could not as he worried that his political enemies on the panel like Rep Adam Schiff would try to accuse him of perjury for getting details wrong.

“But I said this, my lawyer told me, almost 100 times ..: ‘On advice of counsel, I am asserting my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.’ And the media tells you that’s because you’re guilty, or because you’re going to incriminate yourself. But it’s also just because it can be used to incriminate you and try to twist [what you said],” said Mr Jones.

He then went on to accuse Mr Schiff of having a history of changing the words of witnesses to serve his political goals; the California Democrat was recently criticised by Republicans for reading a text sent by Rep Jim Jordan during a hearing of the January 6 committee while omitting that Mr Jordan was quoting a legal argument he had read online.

Mr Jones sued the January 6 committee in December in an attempt to get the committee to stop chasing his phone records; he has yet to see any success in those legal efforts. During Monday’s broadcast, he also falsely implied that the committee was improperly formed, a popular argument among Republicans who ignore that the GOP House leadership withdrew all of its nominations to the panel after just two, one of whom is now a material witness in the probe were rejected.

The controversial InfoWars host went through a bruising public legal battle over custody of his children in 2017, and last year suffered a major legal defeat when a judge ruled that he was required to pay damages to families of children slain in the Sandy Hook attack who argued that Mr Jones’s conspiratorial ravings about the shooting being a “false flag” attack led them to be harassed while they grieved the loss of their loved ones.

Mr Jones’s show now broadcasts on its own website as well as a site titled “Banned.video” after it was pushed off YouTube, Apple, and other platforms in 2018.

The broadcaster led a march with supporters in DC on the day of January 6, but is not accused of entering the building at any time and has not been cited for any criminal activity.

He remains one of dozens of Trump supporters and allies of the former president who have testified before the committee in recent weeks as the investigation continues into various aspects of the January 6 attack including (but not limited to) the hosting of two “Stop the Steal”-themed rallies around Washington on the day of the attack.