The Truth vs. Alex Jones (2024) Movie Script

1
(TENSE STRING MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ALEX JONES:
This is a show trial,
and we're gonna show
all that in there.
All lies, all lies.
This is a kangaroo court,
this is political action,
it's a witch hunt.
I'll be back later.
NEIL HESLIN: It's about
the damage that was done to me.
Jones was repeating these lies.
I was accused of being part
of a government conspiracy.
None of it's true.
All I did was lose my son.
He was brutally murdered
and shot and killed
in his first-grade classroom.
And I have to deal
with this abuse
by a loudmouth with a blowhorn?
COURT CLERK: All rise.
459th District Court
is now in session.
The Honorable Judge
Maya Guerra Gamble presiding.
SCARLETT LEWIS: Alex Jones
chose to continue to seed
and perpetrate lies
that Sandy Hook never happened.
Making shit up.
I mean, it's... it's fake.
I... The whole thing is just...
SCARLETT: That's how
Alex Jones runs his empire,
and I think that that needs
to be stopped.
MARK BANKSTON:
This is Neil and Scarlett.
Mr. Jones has robbed
Neil and Scarlett
of the time they needed to heal
over the violent death
of their son, Jesse.
People thought of Infowars
as a fringe organization.
But at the height of its powers,
more people
were watching Infowars
at any given time than CNN.
What you have to remember
is that Mr. Jones for ten years
intentionally lied
that the shooting was fake
or a government-led plot.
This is the most egregious
case of defamation
in American history.
ANDINO REYNAL:
Mr. Jones has been canceled.
And I believe
in every American's right
to choose what they listen to
and what they believe.
NEIL: It's got to be known
that Alex Jones is a liar.
If it came to a knock-down,
drag-out fight
in the Travis County Courthouse,
that's what it's gonna be.
I do.
Alex Jones will meet me
face to face.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
ALEX: Hello, Austin, Texas.
I'm Alex Jones,
and you're watching
Exposing Mass Media.
ALEX: That's what
we've got to talk about.
I've got quite a few programs
that you'll see live
here on Austin Community
Access Centre.
The simple way
the world works, okay?
RUSSELL DOWDEN:
We always looked up to him.
The guy that started out,
you know, 22 years old
in public access television.
When I fear something,
I go after it!
Makeup, lovey, makeup.
RUSSELL: Public Access in Austin
is a bit of a cultural
phenomenon unto itself,
and it's one of the oldest
in the country.
You know,
there was a lot of freedom
to the programming
that was available,
but it was shared
all over the US.
GREG ERICSON:
You're on the air.
RUSSELL: There was guys
that would come on there
and talk about serious
political issues
with a toilet bowl ring
wrapped around their neck.
Now, there's somebody
a lot smarter than I am, see?
I wouldn't say in all of it
being conspiratorial,
but it was a very
free-thinking forum.
Hail Satan.
Righteously, mother...
I come on public access
and hang out.
I'm on 24 hours a day, they say.
CALLER: (CHUCKLES)
Yeah, very... pretty close.
Well, I can assure you
I don't make any money
off public access.
But Alex eventually stood out
as he got thicker skin.
It hasn't stopped!
(OVERLAPPING ARGUING)
RUSSELL: His ability to capture
that audience, it's impressive.
You watched
because you didn't know
what the guy was gonna
say next. You didn't know.
(CACKLES) We love you,
we're the government.
CALLER: That's what scares me.
We're smiling-faced bureaucrats.
Ooh!
He was fucking hilarious, man.
He would rant and rave,
and there'd be times
when he'd blow up
and get red faced
and started spitting.
It was absolutely hilarious,
entertaining as hell.
I'm sorry for you.
The thing that really
caught my attention
was when he was pointing out
that there was fluoride
in the baby water.
'Cause he's like,
"Oh, they're putting fluoride,
the poison into the baby water.
Oh! Just for the baby."
He'd do his entire antics.
And it caught my attention.
I was like, "Yeah,
why are they putting fluoride
in the baby water?"
I don't want to see
the baby get poisoned, you know.
It's hard to be an awake person.
I was totally hooked.
Look at this.
JOSH OWENS: My friend leaned
over to me, and he was like,
"You know, if you've ever looked
at your toothpaste,
and it says, if you swallow
more than a pea-sized amount,
call Poison Control.
Why do you think they put that
in the water supply?"
"No idea, I don't know."
And he's like,
"Well, it's mind control."
ALEX: We have been predicting
this nightmarish development
for years.
Either the government
actually carried out
this bombing themselves,
or, ladies and gentlemen,
they allowed terrorists
to engage in this
sinister activity.
RUSSELL:
He started getting a following.
And I think after 9/11,
his... his listenership
and audience grew.
ALEX: Look at that,
ladies and gentlemen.
Look at it drop from demolitions
in the bottom.
CHRISTOPHER JORDAN:
He'd gone from local broadcast
to national broadcast.
He became four hours a day,
six days a week.
There was never a...
"Hey, here's
the production meeting
in the morning."
It was as organic
as you could get.
I came in, two, three hours
before everyone else,
and started printing
news stories.
There was one stack
that was the juice.
Boom.
And he would just freeform.
Here's the headline.
"Fukushima radioactive wave
has already hit California."
It's taken two plus years
for that to get here.
I mean, it was like
that with him.
He got an idea,
and he wanted you
to go do it right then.
It was, "You're going to drive
all along the coast
of California and do a reading.
And post a video, immediately."
They're doing their various
readings at this moment.
And from what I'm told,
Adan, we still have
15 microrems, is that correct?
We found, specifically,
that there were not
high radiation levels.
We get a call and they're like,
"Jones is furious.
Stop posting these videos
saying that
there aren't high levels
of radiation in California."
ALEX: Radiation levels
have more than doubled
in the last 60 years and...
JOSH: Jones started selling
his first privately labeled
supplement.
Infowars Life,
which was an iodine supplement.
Talking about Fukushima,
I realized in the last segment
that I've only taken it
this morning,
I take it twice a day
as recommended.
He somehow turned
some geopolitical story
into a need for a supplement.
When Jones started getting
so mad at us
for posting those videos,
it was, "Oh, okay.
We did come here
to sell a product."
ALEX:
The government will not tell you
that during increased
radiation levels,
you need more iodine
to protect the thyroid.
They will not tell you this.
Did we think
he wanted us to lie?
Yeah, it was obvious.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
MARK BARDEN:
On that Friday morning,
I hear little footsteps
running up behind me.
And it's little Daniel.
We got on this couch
right behind me here, and...
I said, "You know,
it's not even daylight yet.
You have time if you wanna
go back to bed
and sleep a little more."
And he said, "No, Dad,
let's cuddle on the couch.
We'll have time
for cuddling this way."
And Daniel says,
"Dad, look at how you can see
the reflection
of our Christmas tree lights
in the window with that
beautiful sunrise behind it."
So, I said,
"You know what? You're right,
I'm going to go get the camera."
I have a picture
of that sunrise that morning
with the Christmas tree lights
reflecting in the window.
And I really wish
I'd turned the camera round
and taken a picture of him.
(SIGHS)
ALISSA PARKER: For our church,
we were preparing for this
big Christmas party
that we were having,
and they were doing
this nativity scene.
And Emilie was going to be
an angel at this nativity scene.
She was awake and she was
sitting on the edge of her bed
waiting for seven o'clock
to happen. (CHUCKLES)
I got a chance to just
sit next to her
and give her a hug and tell her
how much I loved her,
and that wasn't something
that I got to do very often
before I went to work.
NEIL: "Come on, Jess.
We gotta get up
and get ready to go to school."
He got up and, um...
was poking around,
poking along, dogging along.
And my mind was contemplating
whether to send him
to school that day.
But it was class project day.
We were each going to make
a gingerbread house.
The only reason
I think I sent him was because
we were supposed to make
those stupid gingerbread houses.
I really...
I think often about that.
And I walked him
into the school.
He was holding my hand
and he darted
into the classroom.
And that was the last I saw him.
Alive, anyway.
Forty-five minutes later,
we started to get
the text messages.
(PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
DANIEL JEWISS:
Unfortunately, sometimes,
when evil walks in your door,
and you only have
a short amount of time,
there wasn't much
that they could do.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
JEWISS: His first shooting
is the eight rounds
that he shoots
through that window
at the front of the building.
He then makes entrance
into the lobby.
Upon hearing the commotion,
the school principal,
Dawn Hochsprung, gets up
and heads to the door.
She tells her people
to stay put,
uh, but they don't listen
to her, right.
Mary Sherlach, the psychologist,
is actually right on her heels.
And they start to make their way
down the hallway
towards the lobby,
when they're shot and killed.
(PHONE RINGING)
DISPATCHER: Newtown 911, what's
the location of your emergency?
SECRETARY: Sandy Hook school.
I think somebody's got a gun.
I caught a glimpse of somebody.
They're running
down the hallway.
(PANTING)
JEWISS: The first 911 call,
I estimate that that's probably
about a minute and a half
after the shooting
actually begins.
TEACHER:
We're in the classroom,
and my children are just scared,
and we wanted to know an update.
- (CHILD TALKING)
- (TEACHER SHUSHES)
JEWISS: He continues
down the hallway,
and I believe that
the first room that he goes into
is classroom ten.
And some of them
start to react and move.
It's more difficult
than it looks like
to actually shoot somebody,
especially somebody
that's moving.
There are several students
that are able to escape
from that room.
In each one of these classrooms
there's a small bathroom,
and two of the students actually
take up hiding in the bathroom.
He shoots and kills the teacher,
Victoria Soto,
and the teacher's aide,
Anne Marie Murphy.
Uh, Anne Marie
was still clutching the student
that she took care of,
Dylan Hockley,
who was also killed.
And he also killed Jesse Lewis,
Avielle Richman,
Allison Wyatt, and Olivia Engel.
I then believe
that he leaves classroom ten
and goes into classroom eight.
And again, now by this time,
this classroom has the ability
to have reacted,
to gather into what they believe
would be a safe location.
In this case, they've chosen
that very small bathroom
that's in the far-left corner
of their classroom.
All the kids are able
to get into that bathroom,
but the two adults aren't
and they're standing
just outside.
And when he walks in there,
he shoots and kills
the substitute teacher,
Lauren Rousseau,
and the behavior specialist
that was in that room,
Rachel D'Avino.
They both gave their lives
trying to protect those kids.
And he also kills
Daniel Barden, Charlotte Bacon,
Josephine Gay, Madeleine Hsu,
Catherine Hubbard,
Chase Kowalski,
James Mattioli,
Ana Marquez-Greene,
Grace McDonnell, Jack Pinto,
Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi,
Emilie Parker, Jessica Rekos,
and Benjamin Wheeler.
There's... There's one survivor
in that group of kids
that are in the bathroom,
and she just, miraculously,
was not struck.
I believe in that room
he fires about 80 rounds.
They're aimed shots
at extremely close range.
He's squeezing
the trigger rapidly.
Then I believe that he actually
then walks back
to classroom ten.
He's fired two rounds
with the 10mm,
one goes up into the ceiling
and he puts the suicide shot
into his head.
From when he starts shooting
to when he commits suicide,
the whole incident ends up
being about six minutes.
(MUSIC FADES)
(ANSWERING MACHINE BEEPS)
SECRETARY: Good morning.
Uh, this message
is for Sandy Hook parents only.
At this time, if you have not
already done so,
you may go
to the Sandy Hook firehouse
and pick up your child.
All other Newtown schools
remain in lockdown.
Thank you.
(LINE DISCONNECTS)
SCARLETT: Nothing can ever
happen to your child...
so I really wasn't even
that worried, frankly.
NEIL:
I walked to the firehouse first.
And then, by that time,
Scarlett had gotten there
and we... we still
couldn't find Jesse.
SCARLETT:
I walked up to somebody
official-looking in a uniform,
and I said, "I'm looking
for my son, Jesse Lewis."
They said,
"If you can't find him,
put his name down on a list."
There was a long list,
and never in a million years
did I think
that all of those people
were dead.
A police officer walked up to me
and said,
"Did Jesse have any
identifying marks on his body?"
(SNIFFS) And... he did.
He had a little mole
on the top of his right foot.
(SNIFFS) So,
I thought to myself...
"That's not a good sign."
(SIGHS)
NEIL: And it must have been
around three o'clock,
I remember Governor Malloy
getting up, making a speech.
I remember speaking up, saying,
"Are there any survivors
left in the school?
Is anybody alive
that is missing?"
And he didn't answer
the question,
and I asked it a couple of times
and he finally said...
Put his head down
and said,
"No, there's no survivors."
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
NICOLE HOCKLEY: I was able to
see him before we cremated him.
And they instructed me,
you know, um, "Don't touch him
except for his hands
because you won't like
what you feel."
He was, um, in the arms
of Anne Marie,
his special education assistant.
They said the way
that their bodies were found,
him on his back with the knees
and her arms around him,
that she had been trying
to protect him.
I know from the autopsy report
that some of, um,
the fragments from her body
were actually lodged into his,
because of the impact
of the bullets.
SCARLETT:
I held his hand for hours...
until it got warm.
It... it almost felt
like a live hand,
and I looked at the fingernails,
and the fingernails
still had dirt...
(SNIFFS) ...under them.
LENNY POZNER:
He was in the funeral home.
His face was, um,
covered with a cloth
from his nose down.
We were told
that he has an injury there,
and it's better to keep
a cloth over his mouth.
I kissed his forehead,
and it was very cold,
and not the same sensation
as the thousands of times
I've kissed him on his forehead,
so it was... um...
very shocking.
NOAH POZNER: (ON VIDEO)
defeated the Goblin,
and the Goblin was still...
he was fighting back
and still alive...
VERONIQUE DE LA ROSA: He had
just turned six, and, um...
(NOAH CONTINUES SPEAKING)
VERONIQUE: I would hear him.
I would see him
out of the corner of my eye,
but he was never really there.
And I just kind of willed myself
to see him running in the snow
with his jacket on,
coming towards the house...
(SNIFFS)
and telling me
that he had gotten away...
from the shooter.
(MUSIC FADES)
ALEX: Ladies and gentlemen,
it is Friday.
Thank you so much
for joining us the 14th day
of December 2012,
and there is a reported
school shooting in Connecticut,
one of the states
that has draconian restrictions
on gun ownership.
BANKSTON: Mr. Jones, I want
to show you some video clips
of some things you were saying
as news broke of Sandy Hook.
And in a video that day
that you titled
"Connecticut School Massacre
Looks Like False Flag,
Says Witnesses."
Can you play the clip
"Day of Sandy Hook"?
(COUGHS)
And I said, "They are going
to come after our guns,
look for mass shootings,"
and then magically it happens.
They are coming.
They are coming.
They are coming.
BANKSTON: You were
the first person in the world
to make the false flag theory
about Sandy Hook,
and you did it before the bodies
were even cold.
That's the truth.
- ATTORNEY: Objection.
- No, it's not true.
This is staged.
And you know I've been saying
the last few months,
get ready for big
mass shootings.
BANKSTON:
From the very beginning,
Sandy Hook parents
have been asking you
to leave them alone, right?
I don't remember that
from the very beginning, no.
BANKSTON: Okay.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBBIE PARKER:
It's just weird as a human being
to be in a position
where you feel like
you have zero hope
for anything anymore.
I just didn't know
how to respond,
we didn't know how to react.
Within hours,
on the first night,
I remember getting phone calls
from reporters,
and so I turned my phone off.
But I keep getting calls.
And so, I decided
that they weren't going to stop
until they found
somebody to talk to.
And so, I decided that
the best thing to do
was for me to give a statement,
because I figured
if I gave them something
that they could chew on
for a while,
then they would leave us alone.
ROBBIE:
The shooting was on Friday.
Saturday evening,
I gave the statement.
I'd never done
something like this.
All these bright lights
are on me,
and I can't see anybody,
and I just was kind of confused
and nervous,
and just kind of gave
this laugh, like,
"I don't know what to do here."
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
So, I've never done this before.
Do you guys
just want me to start?
- REPORTER: Yeah.
- Okay.
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
So, my name's Robbie Parker.
My family is one of the families
that lost a child yesterday
in the Sandy Hook
Elementary School shootings
here in Connecticut.
I just wanted to share
about who my daughter was.
I had prepared something
that I wanted to share,
and so... I shared it.
Emilie was bright, creative,
and very loving.
Emilie was always willing
to try new things,
other than food.
There was no way
I could have done that.
It was really hard
for him to do that.
And he did it because of her,
because he was her father.
He wanted the world to know
that she was not
just this victim,
that she was this amazing kid.
That's when our world
turned upside down again.
We're going to, um...
play a clip from
a CNN press conference
with Robbie Parker.
It started...
Yeah, it started less than
48 hours after the shooting,
and then it just grew
exponentially from there.
ALEX: And then he walks up
like he's an actor,
and then breaks down on camera.
I mean, it's like,
"Ha ha ha, yeah, ha.
Oh, I read this card? Okay."
(FAKE CRIES)
I mean, it's like, "Whoa! Whoa!"
He does look
like a soap opera actor.
So, he's really smiling
and looks happy,
and all of a sudden, suddenly...
It looks totally fake.
This video is unbelievable.
We're just gonna post
the video...
and let you decide
what you think.
He needs to... I mean, maybe
he should explain it to us.
We need to analyze
all these videos now.
Heaven help us,
ladies and gentlemen.
Heaven help us.
I've never seen
anything like that.
ROBBIE:
It got vile very, very quickly.
Emilie's Memorial Facebook page
became inundated.
Like, "Fuck you, motherfucker."
And "I have your email,
I know where you live.
I have a gun."
ALISSA: We would get emails.
We would get letters
sent to our home,
threatening us.
You know, just saying all sorts
of horrible things.
You know,
that Emilie was a whore,
that Emilie was alive.
Totally stomped on and trashed
the memory
of the six-year-old girl
who had done nothing in her life
to deserve any of that.
You know, I would see it
and I would just delete it,
I would see it
and I would delete it,
because I didn't want
to expose myself to it.
It was everywhere.
Websites set up to destroy him.
"Liar. Actor."
I remember getting on YouTube,
it wouldn't stop.
I could scroll and scroll
and just keep scrolling,
video after video after video
of him just being mocked.
It got to the point where it was
controlling my life in a way.
You got parents laughing,
going "Ha ha ha! Watch this!"
and then going... (FAKE SOBS)
Method acting, going...
(FAKE SOBS)
(WHIMPERING) "Oh, my child!"
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
VERONIQUE:
I remember the funeral.
I went into a state of shock.
I was just on autopilot.
On Monday, there was a funeral
for six-year-old Noah Pozner.
I spoke with Noah's mother,
Veronique Pozner,
just a short time ago...
VERONIQUE:
I know that I did an interview
with Anderson Cooper
because it was
the autopilot part of me
that kind of wanted
to convey what just happened.
I'm grieving, that's all.
- Like we all are.
- Yeah.
- I wish you strength...
- Thank you.
- and peace in the days ahead.
- Thank you.
- I know it's hard. Yeah.
- Thank you. I'm going to need it. Thank you.
Now, a lot
of the tens of millions
of video views on YouTube
concerning the Sandy Hook hoax
surround CNN.
(TV STATIC)
ALEX: I saw this footage
where Anderson Cooper turns.
He's supposedly there
at Sandy Hook
in front of the memorial,
and his whole forehead
and nose blurs out.
I've been working
with blue screen for 17 years.
I know what it looks like.
It's clearly blue screen.
Somehow, that was a proof
that we were not actually
at that locale
and that image of the town hall
was being
artificially projected.
But the fact that this
whole thing could be staged,
it's just mind-blowing.
LENNY: It was a digital motion
glitch in the video,
and that glitch doesn't exist
in the original video.
That only exists in the hoaxer
version of the video.
(TV STATIC)
ALEX: Something though,
is really starting
to get suspicious here.
I mean, I'm sick of it
always being a conspiracy.
He rehashed
my "green screen" video
for over five years, relentlessly.
And you've got the green screens
with Anderson Cooper's nose
disappearing,
you've just... it just goes
on and on, on and on.
LENNY: Infowars were vilifying
the parents.
Anything that they can point
their finger at
to support their thesis.
So, Wolfgang,
recap the basic anomalies
and then give us what happened
in your new investigation.
Thank you, Wolfgang,
for joining us.
LENNY: And at that point,
Infowars had prompted up
Wolfgang Halbig
as this former
law enforcement person
who has experience
with school safety,
being this ultimate credible
authority on the topic.
I think something
would be wrong with us
not to question all these,
and then you look
at the green screens
and the... and just the lies
and the fake videos and...
And Halbig was denying
the tragedy.
Saying it did not happen.
(COMPUTER MOUSE CLICKS)
WOLFGANG HALBIG:
This is Leonard Pozner,
who's playing
the role of a parent
who lost a child at Sandy Hook.
There's Robbie Parker.
Now there is Emilie.
I think Emilie
is alive and well, doing good.
Sandy Hook, it's an illusion.
It was not real.
The first thing is,
why no trauma helicopters?
Think about it,
innocent children shot,
teachers shot.
And no trauma helicopters
respond?
You know,
doctors can be on board,
lifesaving, time of the essence.
And then, for us to learn
that they never allowed
any paramedics or EMTs
inside the school?
What the hell is that?
They were not allowed
inside that school, ever. Ever!
- ("RENEGADES OF FUNK" PLAYS)
- Since the prehistoric ages
And the days
Of ancient Greece...
Wolfgang W. Halbig.
WOLFGANG:
Then I got a phone call.
"Alex Jones would like
to talk to you."
I think he was trying
to get me to validate
what his thoughts were.
You know, he called me back
three more times, you know.
They're taking the guns away
from people in Connecticut,
and they're using Sandy Hook
as a nexus.
It's so obvious
they're using it to disarm us.
They admit it.
And it's just a total hoax.
Oh, he hammered it.
He was, you know.
He said, you know,
"Fake actors, green screen."
Oh, yeah, it was
a vicious attack, you know.
Uh, he said
"Nobody died at Sandy Hook."
See, I never said that.
You're really sure, though,
nobody died,
it was a total cut-out?
I'm telling you, nobody died.
For people to be saying,
"This didn't happen.
It was a hoax,"
and then you start seeing
all the crazy things,
and it was just...
(CHUCKLES) What do you mean
this didn't happen?
When I woke up,
that's when I realized
there were no
trauma helicopters...
ALEX: You've got a bunch
of kids shot,
you don't even ask questions.
Default helicopters launch.
They didn't seem
to accept logic.
'Cause if you then
answered a question,
"Well, why this?
Why weren't people airlifted
to emergency rooms?"
"Well,
because they were all dead."
WOLFGANG: Who has a 99.9 percent
kill rate?
There isn't an FBI agent,
there isn't a Navy SEAL
that's that good of a shot
within eight minutes.
You don't get 99.99 kill rates.
It's just incredibly hard to do.
"How could, you know,
he have such a fantastic
shooting accuracy
that everyone died?"
I don't know, you shove 15 kids
into a three-foot bathroom,
you're probably gonna have
really good accuracy.
WOLFGANG:
This is so well planned,
two, two and a half years,
millions of dollars invested.
Think about it,
you had to get
the entire community involved.
Really?
So a community of 28,000 people
were in on this?
That we were all pretending,
and all the pictures
and the experiences
of the school beforehand,
we fabricated this for years?
It's just...
It's totally ridiculous.
And yet, you know, here we are
all these years later,
and it still persists.
WOLFGANG:
And I'm gonna tell you what,
somebody will break,
and we're gonna break the story.
And we need your help,
we gotta be able
to go to Newtown.
ALEX: Absolutely.
We want to send reporters
up there, Wolfgang, with you.
BANKSTON:
In the spring of 2015...
(ALEX LAUGHS)
BANKSTON:
you sent this man to go
badger and yell obscenities
at Sandy Hook residents,
calling people who were involved
in Sandy Hook
"crooked, corrupt,
piece of shit, motherfuckers"
- You know who that is, right?
- ALEX: Yes.
- BANKSTON: Okay, that's Mr. Bidondi.
- ALEX: Yes.
BANKSTON: You sent him to go
cover Wolfgang Halbig, correct?
I don't remember that.
Dan Bidondi for infowars.com,
and we're at the city
of Newtown, Connecticut.
They're having a hearing
on the Sandy Hook incident.
And with me is Wolfgang Halbig.
How are you doing, sir?
Oh, great. Thanks
for seeing me again.
I run different
than normal reporters
because what I do
is I go out there
and get the truth out.
That's one reason why
I got my job with Infowars.
Okay, I started
working for infowars.com.
No, you're a hero to many of us.
God bless you.
No, no, all of us.
We need to have the truth.
Thank you.
At least we could say
we stood up,
and we did something.
You know what I mean?
And that's the same drive
that everybody
at infowars.com has.
And this is Dan Bidondi
for the Infowars Nightly News.
(CAR HORN HONKING)
WOLFGANG: It's weird
when you're in Sandy Hook.
Something is not right
in this town.
And, really, you can feel it.
FIREFIGHTER: I'm telling you
to get out of here.
Get the fuck out.
WOLFGANG:
Hey, you touch me again...
I wanted to meet the fire chief.
He's a huge player
in the Sandy Hook incident.
- CREW MEMBER: Don't touch him, Wolf.
- Get out of here!
Chief, chief you gotta get him
out of my face.
He's no fucking chief.
Get the fuck out of here.
- I feel sorry for you.
- FIREFIGHTER: Fuck you.
I feel sorry for you.
Go to hell.
This is your volunteer
fire department
here at Sandy Hook
to save the children.
It's just ugly.
You are the board member,
you are the leaders
of this community,
you are the superintendent.
I've appeared in front
of the school board members
and asked the question,
"Why no trauma helicopters?"
Why no trauma helicopters?
Why would you not
let paramedics...
Board members,
these are your children...
Not one of them responded.
They're hiding something.
People in America
deserve the truth.
Wolfgang Halbig
created a lot of hurt
and a lot of harm for people.
We want answers. We want truth.
PAT LLODRA: Listening
and watching what he's doing,
I'm realizing
that he's being energized
by Alex Jones.
And that the two of them
fed each other's psychosis.
Something is rotten here.
What's your bottom line?
What do you think's
happening here?
WOLFGANG: Well, until
they answer those questions,
I can tell you
children did not die.
Teachers did not die.
It just could not have happened.
He was so persistent.
DAN BIDONDI:
There goes Mr. Frank.
How does it feel covering up
Sandy Hook, criminal?
Well, Monte Frank
was the attorney representing
the town of Newtown.
When somebody asks
for public records,
you should honor their request.
And they denied me
at every step.
Good morning, Monte Frank,
representing
the town of Newtown.
We started getting
inundated with
Freedom of Information requests
from Wolfgang Halbig.
- Did I read that correctly?
- WOLFGANG: Yeah, absolutely.
Both the tone and the type
of requests became more and more
menacing and harassing.
Never have met a liar
like this man here.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
DAN: Hey, Attorney Frank,
are you satisfied
with the decision?
Of course,
he's not going to answer.
There goes corruption
right there.
Guess what there, Mr. Frank,
what do you think?
You're protecting
all of those people?
It took every ounce
of energy that I had,
and every bit of restraint,
just to keep walking
and not comment.
DAN: You guys trying
to cover up Sandy Hook?
You know the information's
gonna come out.
You know that, right?
You people are going to jail.
PAT: We became
increasingly anxious.
It's like death
by a thousand cuts.
It's a drip, drip, drip
of "we're not
going to let you heal,
we're going to keep at you
because we think our lies
are more powerful
than your truth."
DAN: The Sandy Hook truth
is coming out.
You people going to jail.
You can smile all you want.
You're going to jail for fraud.
Plain and simple.
It went on for many, many years.
DAN: If you've got nothing
to hide, then speak with us.
CREW MEMBER: Take a moment to speak
with us. You're a public official.
DAN:
But make no mistake about it,
you will be going to jail...
MONTE FRANK: I did not realize
the extent of their reach
and the power of their reach.
And social media was exploding.
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.
And so this attack on facts
would become part of...
I wouldn't say mainstream,
but pretty damn close to what
is mainstream America now.
WOLFGANG: I just hope and pray
that I'm not wrong.
If I'm that wrong,
if I'm that wrong,
and if I've hurt people,
probably I need to go
to a mental hospital.
Now look at this one here,
this is unbelievable.
Hockley. See her?
NICOLE: There's no point
arguing with them.
That I've learned the hard way.
No matter what you do,
they're never gonna believe.
They say, "Show us
the death certificates."
"Oh, that's a forgery."
"Show us the pictures."
"Oh, that's a forg... "
"Show us proof
that your kid ever existed."
"Oh, you just made that up."
And you can't... you can't win.
LENNY: Most people did think
that if it was just ignored,
next time they'd look for it,
it wouldn't be there.
And I didn't have that opinion.
It was obvious to me
that this was on a trajectory,
and it was only getting worse.
In 2014, I was ready to take on
this hoaxer phenomenon
relating to the tragedy
of my son.
My first phase
was to make myself available
and communicate with them.
And Kelley Watt
was one of the people
that I came across.
So we had this dialogue,
you know, we talked a lot
for about a six-month
period of time.
I'm as firm in my belief
that it didn't happen
as Lenny Pozner is...
That he's convinced that he had
a son who passed away.
You just... (GROANS)
This is just so insane.
I just can't believe
that anybody believes it.
I really have a hard time
believing that people
actually believe this.
She communicated with all
of these hoax content creators
like Wolfgang Halbig.
And she inserted herself
in the middle of all of this.
When I heard that these children
had been shot,
one of the first things I did
because of my cleaning business,
I called the Environmental
Protection Agency of Connecticut
and said,
"Who cleaned up the blood?"
And it was like, "What blood?"
I'm like, "Twenty-six people
were murdered. That blood."
And he said, "Are you one
of these conspiracy theorists?"
And he said, "I stepped over
those dead babies."
To which I replied,
"No, you did not.
No, you did not."
(COMPUTER MOUSE CLICKING)
LENNY: This is the email
that Kelley Watt had sent.
When I'd asked her
to contact Wolfgang Halbig
to see if he'll talk to me.
And the response
that I got from Kelley is that
he won't speak to me
until I exhume Noah's body.
KELLEY WATT:
I watched a lot of true crime,
and they exhume bodies
all the time.
It's not unusual.
That's all you can do.
If you really want to prove
that this didn't happen,
what else can you do
but to have the bodies exhumed?
LENNY:
That's when I realized that,
you know, these people,
they've got
their own party going on, and...
and uh, and I'm not invited, so.
After that phase
lacked any success,
I shifted to removing content.
Anyone that was going
after Noah,
I was having
their content removed.
YouTube videos.
Anything that was
denying reality.
The hoax content outnumbered
any factual information.
If you did a Google search,
or a search on YouTube,
for the Sandy Hook shooting,
five out of six results
would have been hoax material.
That's what people
were clicking on
so that's all that people
are going to be exposed to.
It was a contagion.
It was going viral,
spreading to billions of people.
Platforms at that point
wouldn't remove content
based on their own policies.
Other than copyright.
That's very black and white
in the hosting world.
I was persistent
in reporting material.
Going after a particular channel
and finding anything
that violated privacy
or copyright.
ALEX: Noah Pozner,
one of the children
supposedly killed
in the December 2012
Sandy Hook school shooting
in Newtown, Connecticut.
LENNY: So if they were using
images of Noah,
I was able to get that content
taken down
and that would bring
channels down.
You got green screen
with Anderson Cooper,
and then his nose disappears.
It's... it's not real.
LENNY: Even that video,
you know, there were probably
hundreds of that video,
maybe thousands of it.
All of that had
to be taken down, one by one.
And it was very hard to do.
And there was real...
real warfare going on,
and a real battle
was taking place.
They were losing their content.
It's like their playground,
and if you take their toys away,
they just become enraged.
Our entire media operation
and your First Amendment,
my First Amendment,
is under massive attack.
By 2015 he was accusing me
of taking away his free speech
and crippling
his YouTube channel.
ALEX: This guy comes and says
that we violated their copyright
to trigger the suspension
of the Alex Jones channel.
LENNY:
Infowars published my name
before his millions
of listeners.
This is amazing.
The claimant is Lenny Pozner,
HONRnetwork at gmail.com.
What do you think
of us being censored?
What's been happening to you?
CALLER:
I can tell you lots about Lenny.
Lenny, if you're listening,
your day is coming, my friend.
It is coming.
Go after him, Alex. Crush him.
LENNY:
After that came Lucy Richards.
LUCY RICHARDS: (ON VOICEMAIL)
You're going to die,
you motherfucking nigger.
Kike, Jew bastard. Cunt.
You're going to die.
She made death threats.
She became triggered
by something she heard
on Infowars.
She was sentenced
to six months in federal prison.
Part of her consequence
was that she would no longer
listen to Alex Jones.
So that was directly ordered
by the court.
(TYPING)
LENNY: It kept on going.
It continues.
ALEX: Donald Trump is our guest.
He is the leading
2016 Republican
presidential contender.
Well, Donald Trump,
let me say this.
My audience,
I'd say 90 percent, support you.
DONALD TRUMP:
Your reputation's amazing.
I will not let you down.
You will be very,
very impressed, I hope.
2016, you know,
we had a president
that was denying things.
This is a good time to be alive,
ladies and gentlemen,
and we owe Donald Trump so much.
LENNY: That idea, that concept,
has spread, to not trust media.
There was this escalation
in alternative ways of thinking
so that, combined with Infowars
repeating Sandy Hook lies,
brought everything back again.
It restarted the cycle.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
MEGYN KELLY:
Alex Jones isn't going away.
Over the years,
his YouTube channel
has racked up 1.3 billion views.
He has millions of listeners,
and the ear
of our current president.
NEIL: Alex Jones's
general statements and remarks
and, you know,
disbelief of the tragedy
were getting more
and more frequent.
So I went on the, uh,
Megyn's show
and I did an interview.
I lost my son. I buried my son.
I held my son with a bullet hole
through his head.
Shortly thereafter,
I was accused of being a liar.
Here's another story. (CHUCKLES)
Neil Heslin,
a father of one of the victims,
he's claiming
that he held his son
and saw the bullet hole
in his head.
That is his claim.
Now, according
to a timeline of events
and a coroner's testimony,
that is not possible.
Megyn Kelly,
talking to the father
of one of the victims,
saying he went
and held his dead son
there at the school.
And then it cuts to the coroner,
but he's saying
no one was allowed
to go in and see the kids.
And we just said, "See? That's
why people ask questions."
I held him with a bullet hole
in his head.
You know,
who does he think he is
to... to... you know,
question that?
That was really the...
What broke the camel's back.
And that's when I filed
the lawsuit against Alex Jones.
And I figured,
"Well, he's in Texas,
I'm gonna go to Texas with it."
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
BANKSTON: 2018,
Neil Heslin called me
and said, "Can you help me?"
Neil lost his son, Jesse.
And what was in Neil's case
is that Infowars
specifically said,
"You're lying
about having held your child.
You didn't do that.
You're a liar."
And then, of course,
Jesse's mom, Scarlett Lewis,
also subject to the same
kind of harassment,
these lies
about the death of her child.
So you had two causes
of action for Neil,
which is defamation
and intentional infliction
of emotional distress,
and just the emotional distress
for Scarlett.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
SCARLETT:
I had to think long and hard
over whether
I would join the lawsuit.
There have been times
that have been very scary,
and I've had to think,
"Wow, is this is worth it?"
And...
my conclusion
has always been, "Yeah.
It's worth it to send
this message,
the importance of truth."
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
CHRIS MATTEI: So, this is
the case against Alex Jones
on behalf
of 15 Connecticut plaintiffs.
The Texas cases kinda continued
on somewhat of
a parallel track to ours.
We're both proceeding, um,
I think,
with the same goal in mind,
you know, which is to hold
Alex Jones accountable.
The families that we represent
are very much looking forward
to the trial.
FRANCINE WHEELER:
I was at a conference
for mothers who...
Whose kids died by gun violence.
And I, uh, was in an elevator
with this woman.
She saw my necklace
and she said,
"Who's this?"
And I said,
"Oh, this is my son, Ben.
He was killed when he was six."
And she said,
"What do you mean?"
And I said,
"Well, we live in Sandy Hook,
he died in his school."
And she said, "You're lying."
- PARENT: Wow.
- "That didn't happen.
They said it...
They said it didn't happen."
And I was like, "What?"
She said, "No, no,
they said it didn't happen."
And I was like,
"No, it... it really happened."
And she wasn't crazy.
ROBBIE: It had been years
since our kids were killed,
and I'm walking
down the street in Seattle
and somebody recognizes me,
and then he looked up and goes,
"How do you fucking
sleep at night,
you son of a bitch?"
And I just think
the amount of content
that that person had to watch
and digest and hold on to,
to where he could recognize me
in some random city,
3,000 miles away from Newtown,
on some random day...
Like, how much...
How much did he have to take in?
(PARENTS AGREEING)
MARK: Part of
what we're doing here
is hoping that we can...
we can do our little part
to course correct
this kind of dangerous,
wildly out of control dynamic
of misinformation
and disinformation
and people who are happy
and willing to believe
whatever it is
that they want to hear.
It was the only thing we found
that was left for us
to make it stop,
hopefully, to make it stop.
My little son died afraid,
and alone, terrorized,
watching his friends
be murdered.
Yeah.
Lots of anger.
NICOLE:
There's so much to deal with
after losing a child.
I'm strong enough now
that I'm ready to take this on.
DIRECTOR: So what's
the end result gonna be?
Um, total destruction
of Alex Jones, can I say that?
(LAUGHS)
- (TRANQUIL MUSIC PLAYING)
- I love America.
It's not fear that makes me
get tears in my eyes.
It's will and strength
boiling to defeat these tyrants,
and these globalists.
- (EXPLOSION)
- (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS)
But that said...
Just like our information
is game-changing...
the products that we sell,
all of them, are powerful.
And whether
it's colloidal silver from 1995,
the very best out there,
or whether it's DNA Force,
now back in stock...
MATTEI:
What we really want to do
is expose him to the world
as a con man, a fraud.
Alex Jones does not want
his audience to know
just how much
he's exploiting them every day.
But what happened is,
their lawyers gave us
all these emails,
which they hadn't reviewed,
and included in the emails
were attachments
that showed some of the data
for some of the years.
It just so happened,
you know, we got lucky.
The dates are from 2009 to 2014,
so that was great for us
because what we were
able to show
is the growth in audience
month over month
and year over year.
So, they published this story
to infowars.com,
September 2014, almost two years
after the shooting,
"FBI Says No One Killed
at Sandy Hook."
It's just a lie,
it's ridiculous.
But you put out
a story like this
and it gets people's attention
because, I think,
people just assume,
"Oh, my gosh, more evidence."
And, of course, you know,
they're running their
33 percent off DNA Force Plus.
So, they published this story
and then they had a spike
in unique visitors,
they have a spike in page views.
So what's happening
is all these new people
are coming to infowars.com
to read this bullshit story
about FBI saying
nobody killed at Sandy Hook,
and when they're there,
they're getting pitched
all these ads to go to the store
and a lot of them do.
The next day,
their revenue goes from 48,000
to 232,000,
from this one story alone.
- MATTEI: (ON LAPTOP) Uh, good morning sir.
- Good morning.
MATTEI: (VOICEOVER) This guy,
Tim Fruge, his business director.
In this deposition,
you know, I show him the spike,
he says,
"Yeah, there's a spike."
I would agree
there's a spike, yes.
I agree with you.
MATTEI: (ON LAPTOP) And when you're
having your daily call with Alex Jones
and you see a spike
in revenue like that,
from 48,000 to 232,000 dollars,
you're telling him
about that, right?
Yeah, of course.
MATTEI: (VOICEOVER) Of course!
It's just so obvious
what they're doing.
Jones is just getting rich.
He's just getting rich
off of saying these things
about these families
who meantime, meantime in 2014,
they're under a barrage
of threats and harassment
and fear and anxiety
because of what he's doing.
He doesn't give a shit.
He's just like
getting rich off it.
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's...
Yeah, the more people
in town square,
the more people
go to the shops. Yes.
- MATTEI: Morning, Mr. Jones.
- Good morning.
MATTEI: His dad, David Jones,
kind of like said
the quiet part out loud.
Are you aware whether
Free Speech Systems collects
data concerning when
during an Alex Jones broadcast
it has the most sales activity?
Only in the sense
that if there have been days
where we had extraordinarily
good sales, someone will say,
"What was Alex saying
when that happened?"
And so,
we like to emulate spikes.
They're seeing this
and they want to replicate it.
Of course,
that's how you run a business.
That's what you would expect,
except that Alex Jones
tells his audience,
"I don't care about money,
you know,
I'm just all about freedom
and fighting the globalists.
And, you know,
support us if you can
to keep us on the air."
When really what he's doing
is just feeding his audience
like a daily dose
of fear and rage
and looking at what works.
What else could possibly explain
the way these families
have been hunted and stalked
for ten years?
BANKSTON:
Jones was not reluctant
to have his deposition taken.
When it first started,
you could tell
he was feeling
like he was in his element.
You know, he thought,
"Oh, I'm in front of a camera.
I'm just going to act
like I'm on my own show."
The trauma of the media
and the corporations
lying so much,
then everything begins...
You don't trust
anything anymore.
Kind of like a child
whose parents lie to them
over and over again. Well,
pretty soon they don't know
what reality is.
People lost any compass
of what's real.
And I've, you know, I myself
have, you know, almost had
like a form of psychosis
back in the past
where I basically thought
everything was staged,
even though I'm now learning
a lot of times
things aren't staged.
You know, it's painful
that we have to question
big public events.
I think that's an essential part
of the First Amendment
in America...
BANKSTON: In this country,
First Amendment guarantees
that Congress shall pass no law
abridging the freedom
of the speech.
Telling lies, false information
is not protected
by the First Amendment.
And then photos of kids
that are still alive
they said died.
I mean, they think we're so dumb
that it's... it's really
hidden in plain view.
BANKSTON: Mr. Jones, you can
admit that that statement
was absolute nonsense.
There are not photos of children
who died
who are actually still alive.
- That's not...
- That is an out-of-context clip.
I can't even respond
to something like that.
BANKSTON: You've made money
from every single one
of these broadcasts
we saw today, right?
(SIGHS)
No, we actually lose money
on really controversial stuff.
We can actually see it.
BANKSTON: And you have
supplements you sell too
with these videos, correct?
It's... (SPLUTTERS)
The two don't go together.
BANKSTON: You can never trust
anything this guy says.
He's a calculated liar.
As the deposition drug on,
he enjoyed it less.
VIDEOGRAPHER: We are back
on the record at 12:58 p.m.
BANKSTON: Mr. Jones,
before we went on a break,
we were talking about the issue
of whether there were EMTs
allowed into the building.
We talk a lot about
the tragedy at Sandy Hook
and sometimes we shield
ourselves from the details.
In that second classroom,
there was over a dozen children
piled into a rear bathroom.
I have put in front of you
the statement
of Lieutenant Vanghele.
I'm going to read that
and you're going to
follow along with me. Okay?
"I then walked into a room
with Sergeant Cario.
To the left of the room
as you walk in,
there was a bathroom
in the corner.
There was a massive pileup
of bodies in this room.
At this time, I did not know
it was a bathroom,
and I wondered how the suspect
had the time to kill
that many people and stack them
in the corner of the room.
And many of the bodies
had injuries
that were obviously fatal.
The children that were sitting
on the floor of the bathroom
were packed in like sardines."
Let's look at exhibit three.
Do you see at the very bottom
of the page,
the very bottom left corner,
it says
Sergeant William F. Cario?
- (YAWNS) Yes.
- BANKSTON: Okay.
I'm going to read
the highlighted part to you.
"Paramedic Matt Cassavechia
approached me.
I have known Cassavechia
for many years
and recognized him as the head
of EMS for Danbury Hospital.
Cassavechia said,
'You know I've got
to get into that building.'
I realized at some point
those victims presumed dead
would have to be officially
pronounced dead.
As we walked to the school,
I told Cassavechia,
'This will be the worst day
of your life.'"
After that, his demeanor
totally changed
and his attitude for the rest
of the deposition changed.
One of the major successes
that I think we've had
is forcing Jones
to admit under oath,
that he was not right,
that Sandy Hook happened.
We finally have that on record.
Recently, your lawyer said,
"There is no dispute
that the Sandy Hook tragedy
was real."
You stand by that, that's what
you admit is true now?
Yes.
BANKSTON: I wanna ask you,
now looking back on this,
are you sorry?
You know, I did all this
from a good place in my heart,
and I'm really sad
the establishment has lied
so much and done so much
that the public doesn't believe
what they're told anymore.
There's been a real loss
of confidence in the system.
And I'm a good person.
BANKSTON: So in some ways
you're a victim?
Well, let's just say
time's running out
for the establishment.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
This is bizarre.
This is unbelievable.
A judge just says,
"You're defaulted,
you're guilty.
You owe these people money."
BANKSTON:
For the past three years,
Infowars has repeatedly
disobeyed
the court's instructions.
Has broken virtually every rule
that could be put
in front of them.
The judge had enough,
said it's over.
What that means is he's lost.
It's over.
Because a default judgment
has been granted against Jones,
and that's a big event.
All that's left to do
is to determine
how much he has to pay
these parents
for the unlawful acts he did.
That's it.
This jury will be instructed,
at the very beginning
of this trial,
that they are to find
that the defendant
has committed these acts.
All right, Mr. Jones,
you know about,
uh, back in September a default
got granted against you, right?
I know I didn't get
a jury trial.
I know a judge said
I was guilty.
I don't believe that I live
in the Soviet Union.
BANKSTON: Now that
you got beat in court,
now that a default's
been granted...
No, I didn't get beat in court.
(STAMMERS) I got beat
by an organized crime syndicate.
WES BALL: What Jones decided
to do in this case
was not participate
in discovery.
And he never gave us anything
other than just pure BS.
Yet he turns around then
and says,
"Oh, I gave
so much information."
If... if... if you give me
80 pounds of shit,
it's still 80 pounds of shit.
This is a show trial.
Eighty-one thousand pages,
two depositions with myself
and my whole crew,
because we don't have
what you claim we have.
He looked at it and said,
"If I give you all the information
that I'm supposed to give you,
there's no way
I'm ever gonna win.
So why the hell
am I gonna give it to you?"
So, if you don't give it to us,
there's remedies for that.
And that remedy
is, again, the default.
It's a kangaroo trial
because it is.
BANKSTON: You didn't even
answer discovery.
When you tell your show
that this is all
just a kangaroo court
and you completely complied
but got railroaded,
that's not true.
- None of that's true.
- No, it is true.
I mean, I remember giving
you guys all sorts of stuff.
Then you would say
you hadn't been given it.
I don't say this as a victim,
but this is traumatic for me,
and I'm s... and I'm tired
of hearing about it.
And now, I have, like,
a mental wall on Sandy Hook
that just goes up,
because I can't deal
with the stress of it.
And so, I just put
a mental wall up and I... I...
You ask me these questions,
and it's like... I just
can't deal with it anymore.
(SIGHS)
(EXHALES SHARPLY)
(TENSE STRING MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ALEX: I'm gonna tell you again. You're
having all of your rights robbed.
We're not allowed
to tell the jury
that Infowars is bankrupt.
This is a kangaroo court.
This is a political action.
It's a witch hunt.
I'll be back later.
BANKSTON: We got business here.
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
REPORTER: We just heard
from Alex Jones.
He believes the trial is a sham,
a show trial.
He's saying that because
he's already been found liable
by default by this judge.
(QUIET CHATTER)
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
COURT CLERK: All rise.
459th District Court
is now in session.
The Honorable Judge
Maya Guerra Gamble presiding.
Good morning.
You may be seated.
This is Neil Heslin
and Scarlett Lewis
versus Alex E. Jones
and Free Speech Systems LLC.
You are not here
to determine if Mr. Jones
and Free Speech Systems LLC
defamed
or intentionally inflicted
emotional distress
on Mr. Heslin or Ms. Lewis.
The court has already found
that they have committed
these acts.
The jury's job will be
to determine what sum of money,
if any, would fairly
and reasonably compensate
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis
for the damages they incurred
that were proximately caused
by Mr. Jones
and Free Speech Systems LLC.
Mr. Bankston,
whenever you are ready.
Ladies and gentlemen,
my name's Mark Bankston,
and I'm here to talk to you
about two rules.
First, you can't recklessly
tell lies
about something important
to someone.
In this case,
like the death of their child.
If you do that, you know
you're going to cause them harm,
you're responsible for that.
Mr. Jones continually
was churning this idea
that Sandy Hook was fake.
You need to understand
that he intentionally lied
to sell supplements.
Mr. Jones used Jesse's death
to sell his products.
Mr. Jones told the world
that Neil was lying
about holding Jesse's body.
Because Mr. Jones will do
or say anything
to protect his ability
to profit off his lies.
And over the last decade,
Mr. Jones has become
incredibly influential
over a segment of this country.
What I want you to remember
about this is this number.
Twenty-four percent
is the percent
of people in this country
who believe that Sandy Hook
was either definitely
or possibly staged,
and group of people
is 75 million people.
You can put an end to these lies
by punishing Alex Jones.
- (WHISPERING)
- BANKSTON: Thank you very much.
MAYA GUERRA GAMBLE: All right,
thank you, Mr. Bankston.
It was surreal.
That 24 percent
just was so powerful,
especially to me.
I mean, I had known that,
but I didn't want to say it
because I didn't really want
to acknowledge
that a quarter of Americans
don't believe the facts.
REYNAL: Infowars believes
in people's right
to question information.
Alex Jones doesn't trust
the government.
Millions of Americans
don't trust the government.
There's nothing
sort of more appealing
than when I see, uh, you know,
a person alone
surrounded by a lynch mob.
Despite his hyperbole,
he has helped millions of people
realize for the first time
the depredations
that are affected upon them
by the elites.
And I think for that
he is an American hero.
He is one
of the most polarizing figures
in this nation.
They want to tell you
this is the Great Satan.
You will be able to decide.
REYNAL:
The plaintiff's attorneys
took Mr. Heslin and Ms. Lewis
and they convinced them
that Alex Jones was responsible
for all the pain
that they have in their lives.
And then they grabbed Alex Jones
and they threw us both
into a pit
so that we could
fight against each other on...
on national television.
GAMBLE: Mr. Shroyer,
raise your right hand
to be sworn in, please.
BANKSTON: Neil said,
"I held my son in my arms.
I saw the bullet wound
through his forehead."
The person who got
on the Internet,
on Jones's web show,
and said that Neil Heslin
was a liar,
that's Infowars reporter
Owen Shroyer.
You did a show
on June 25th, 2017,
where you were the sole host.
You remember that?
- Yes.
- KYLE FARRAR: Okay.
You were handed the story
while you were on air live
- and you ran with it, right?
- Yes.
FARRAR: You had no problem
putting that on the air, right?
Yes.
FARRAR: The message is,
"Neil Heslin never held Jesse."
- Right?
- No.
OWEN SHROYER: He's claiming
that he held his son
and saw the bullet hole
in his head.
That is his claim.
Now, according
to a timeline of events
and a coroner's testimony,
that is not possible.
Okay, so making a pretty
extreme claim
that would be a very thing
vivid in your memory,
holding his dead child.
FARRAR: When you, three times,
say, "He's claiming it,"
and then show evidence
that you say refutes it,
you're saying
you're not doubting it?
I didn't show evidence
that refuted his claim.
I showed evidence
that was presented to me
that says this doesn't add up.
But I never called
Mr. Heslin a liar.
I never said
Sandy Hook didn't happen.
FARRAR: In the process
of putting that story out
to a worldwide broadcast,
you hurt real people.
You understand that now, right?
I mean... (SIGHS)
You still don't care, do you?
I do care.
- ("UPRISING" BY MUSE PLAYS)
- Will there be a clarification
from Heslin or Megyn Kelly?
I wouldn't hold your breath.
(LAUGHS)
So now they're fueling
the conspiracy theory claims.
Unbelievable.
We'll be right back with more.
(SONG STOPS)
FARRAR: Why in the world
would Neil Heslin
- owe you an explanation?
- He doesn't.
Do you think Scarlett and Neil
deserve better
than what you did that day?
Yes.
FARRAR: So right after
you called Neil Heslin a liar,
they ran a commercial
for a product
that they sell on their website
called Z-Shield, right?
Well, yes, when we go
to a break, we run commercials.
Right. Because Infowars
is actually an infomercial,
- right?
- No.
ALEX: Thank you for joining us
on this live Tuesday
worldwide transmission.
I'm hosting this hour,
and then I'm gonna get in a car
and drive down to testify
today in the show trial.
It's demonic.
They all act
demonically possessed.
The judge, the lawyers.
It's surreal to be around them.
BALL: Mr. Neil Heslin
to the stand.
All right, Mr. Heslin, you'll
come in front of me, please,
so I can swear you in.
ALEX: The judge is primping,
and they've got an HBO camera
with her all mic-ed up in there.
(MOCKING) "Oh! Oh"
They've got dozens
of cameras in there.
Then they go, "This man tortured
these innocent people
for ten years."
BALL: Mr. Heslin...
Mr. Jones's attorney said
that he would be here today.
How does it make you feel,
sitting in this courtroom
right now,
that Mr. Jones is not
sitting here facing you?
I think it's a disrespect
and I think it's a cowardly act
of Alex Jones
not to be facing me here
in this courtroom.
ALEX: I've now met Neil Heslin.
And I'll just say it,
'cause I gotta be honest.
He's slow.
And now that I've been around
him for over a week,
I'm like, "Okay."
Mr. Heslin,
did you hear what was being said
by Alex Jones and his associates
as a denial
that Jesse ever existed?
NEIL: Yes.
He did live.
I was blessed with him
for six and a half years.
(SNIFFLES)
I did hold my son
with a bullet hole in his head.
This trial is the only way
I can restore my credibility
and reputation.
And Jesse's legacy and honor,
as he so much deserves.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
SCARLETT: Neil had always talked
about wanting his day in court
and he wanted to face Jones.
And actually, for me,
that was a pretty scary thing
to think about.
(CAR HORNS HONKING)
SCARLETT: And, you know,
he wasn't in court a lot,
so you could never predict
when he was going to be in court
and when he wasn't.
REPORTER 1: How are you doing
today, Mr. Jones?
Doing great.
REPORTER 2: Mr. Jones,
can you tell us
why you weren't in trial
this morning?
ALEX: The whole country is turning
against the Democratic Party.
SCARLETT: And there he is.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
My stomach just turned over.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
It did a flip-flop.
GAMBLE:
Spit your gum out, Mr. Jones.
- ALEX: It's not gum.
- GAMBLE: Well, what is it?
'Cause you're not allowed food
or gum of any kind
in the courtroom.
I had my tooth pulled
a week and a half ago,
and it's... I had some gauze
in there earlier.
So you're chewing on your gauze?
ALEX: Would you like me
to show you?
- No.
- I can show you right here.
GAMBLE: I don't want
to see the inside of your mouth.
No, there's no gum.
- Hole.
- GAMBLE: Sit down.
We're bringing the jury in.
(INAUDIBLE)
SCARLETT: He's sitting
right in front of me,
and I'm looking
right into his eyes.
BALL: Are you pleased
that you at least
now finally get to
look this man in the eye?
Yes.
I wanted to tell you,
to your face,
because I wanted you to know
that I am a mother,
first and foremost.
And I know that you're a father.
And my son existed.
You're still on your show
today, trying to say
that I'm...
implying that I'm an actress.
That I'm deep state.
You have, this week.
And truth is what we base
our reality on.
And we have to agree on that
to have a civil society.
Sandy Hook is a hard truth.
And having a quarter
of Americans
doubt that Sandy Hook happened,
or doubt the facts
around Sandy Hook,
is not conducive
to keeping our kids safe.
It's not.
Jesse was real. I am a real mom.
I know you know that.
That's the problem.
I know you know that,
and you keep saying it.
You keep saying it.
Why? Why? For money?
Because you've made a lot
of money while you've said it.
I know you're... I mean...
I know you believe me.
And yet you're going to get...
You're going to leave
this courthouse
and you're going to say it
again on your show.
You're saying no.
You just did it.
(SIGHS)
BALL:
Did you have an opportunity
to hear what Mr. Jones
had said on his show,
not 45 minutes or so ago,
about Mr. Heslin
and his testimony?
Yes.
REYNAL: I'm going to object,
Your Honor.
It's an edited clip.
I don't think
it should be played.
GAMBLE: Overruled.
I mean, I'll just say it
'cause I gotta be honest.
He's slow. Okay?
I don't think he's stupid.
I'm just saying he's... he's...
I mean, I think Heslin acts
like somebody on the spectrum,
and it makes me feel
like an even bigger jerk.
BALL: How does it make you feel,
knowing that that was said today
by this man on his radio show
while Jesse's father
was testifying
in that same seat
you're sitting in?
It makes me feel...
astounded in a bad way.
It's horrific.
Horrific. Horrific.
BALL: You have a claim
for intentional infliction
of emotional distress.
- Do you not?
- Yes.
BALL: And what do you hope
will be accomplished?
SCARLETT: In some way,
you've impacted every single
day of my life negatively
since... almost since
Jesse's murder.
Alex has been asked to stop,
and he hasn't.
He's still doing it today.
So you're not going to stop.
I don't even think my pleading
with you up here
is going to get you to stop.
It seems so incredible to me
that we have to do this.
That we have to implore you,
not just implore you,
punish you to get you
to stop lying,
saying it's a hoax. It happened.
It's, like, surreal,
what's going on in here.
I think everyone in here
probably feels that way.
(SIGHS)
I hope to accomplish
an era of truth.
An era of truth.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
Please.
GAMBLE: Mr. Reynal, do you have
a witness for the jury?
I do.
The defense would call
Alex E. Jones.
GAMBLE: All right, Mr. Jones,
come stand in front of me, please.
Raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear or affirm,
under penalty of perjury,
that the testimony
you are about to give
shall be the truth,
the whole truth,
- and nothing but the truth?
- I do.
Thank you. Come have a seat.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
REYNAL: He didn't have
to be there.
You know, he wasn't subpoenaed.
You know, within the bounds
of what was allowed,
we tried to let him
tell his story.
Alex, would you please
introduce yourself
to the ladies and gentlemen
of the jury?
Hi, I'm Alex Jones.
REYNAL: How are you feeling
today, Alex?
I actually feel good
because I get a chance to,
for the first time,
say what's really going on,
instead of the corporate media
and high-powered law firms
manipulating what
I actually did.
I just do want to say this
on record,
'cause I've said it
many times...
BANKSTON:
Objection, non-responsive.
- I apologize to both...
- GAMBLE: Uh! Sustained.
So, Mr. Jones,
this is not a conversation.
It's question and answer.
So she got to monologue
but not me. I got it.
GAMBLE: And so you have
to only answer questions
that are asked of you.
You may proceed.
REYNAL: Mr. Jones, have you been
wanting to apologize
to the plaintiffs in this case
for a long time?
Yes.
REYNAL: And what would you like
to say to them?
That I never intentionally
tried to hurt you.
Today, where they play
a 30 s... or one-minute clip,
and I knew that I said,
"I believe
that Scarlett Lewis is real
and she's a really nice person
and she's really
a sweet person."
And then I went through and
talked about her ex-husband too.
And then... then I said, "I believe
they're being fed and manipulated."
BANKSTON: Your Honor,
objection, non-responsive.
GAMBLE: Sustained.
- This is a perfect...
- GAMBLE: Sustained.
When you hear sustained,
you have to stop talking.
Okay. Okay.
(ALEX MUMBLES)
(COUGHS) Excuse me.
Sorry. (CLEARS THROAT)
- Mr. Jones.
- Oh, thank you very much.
I'm sorry. I just... I just...
(GULPS) I'm about to have
to have surgery on this. It's...
It's been like this
for ten years,
but it's really bad now.
REYNAL: Let's talk about
Infowars and its business model.
- Do you sell vitamins?
- Yes.
We have them made
by the... the top lab
recognized in the United States.
All we do is put
our label on it,
so we know it's triple-tested,
the highest quality.
And that's why people love it
because it is
the best out there.
There's all sorts of crap
you can buy
at a gas station out there.
That's not what ours is.
I mean, we buy our PQQ
and CoQ10 from the Japanese.
I mean, it's the best.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
REYNAL: Let's discuss email.
How much email
does Infowars routinely get?
Uh, I mean... I mean,
I know when we looked to comply
with the discovery,
which we complied with,
it was over ten million
that they had to search
that was still in the inbox, unopened.
REYNAL: How many employees
would Infowars have to have,
in your view, if you were
to actually read every message,
every email, every tip
that's sent in?
It would take ten,
15, 20 people.
We'd go bankrupt,
which we are now. But...
BANKSTON: Your Honor, I have a couple
motions I'm gonna need to take up
outside the presence
of the jury.
I don't know
if you want to do that now
or wait till he's done
with his direct.
GAMBLE: All right. We're gonna...
Just... just sit tight
for a second.
We're going to take a break.
- All right, thank you.
- COURT CLERK: All rise.
BANKSTON: I don't know
what's going on, Your Honor,
but I need to bring a couple
of motions there
for jury instructions.
Mr. Reynal just absolutely
solicited direct testimony
from Mr. Jones
that he is bankrupt.
Mr. Jones has testified
straight into the record
that he's bankrupt,
which is not true.
Mr. Jones
just intentionally did that
in violation of your order
to attempt to poison
this compensatory
damage verdict,
to try to tell this jury
that he's broke when he's not.
The second is that
he absolutely...
Mr. Jones just fully testified,
"We complied with discovery,"
but we both know Mr. Jones
did anything but comply
with discovery and did that
for four years,
thumbing his nose in the face
of this court in rank contempt.
Mr. Jones...
you may not say to this jury...
that you complied
with discovery.
That is not true.
You may not say it again.
You may not tell this jury
that you are bankrupt.
That is also not true.
It seems...
absurd to instruct you again
that you must tell the truth
while you testify.
Yet here I am.
You must tell the truth
while you testify.
This is not your show.
Do you understand
what I have said?
Yes or no?
Do you understand
what I have said?
ALEX: Yes. I believe
what I said was true. So...
Yes, you believe everything
you say is true, but it isn't.
Your beliefs do not make
something true.
That is...
That is what we're doing here.
You understand what I have said?
ALEX: I do understand.
You understand the instructions
I have given you
for your testimony in court?
ALEX: Yes.
(SIGHS) I am not going
to bring the jury back today.
All right.
We'll see you tomorrow.
- Thank you.
- COURT CLERK: All rise.
SCARLETT:
He had been coughing a lot
and he had explained
that his larynx was torn.
And I felt such tremendous
compassion for him.
And so brought him a water
and four cough drops.
Oh, thank you.
You're very sweet.
I want you to know that.
I believe your son died,
and I apologize for everything
that happened.
BANKSTON: And that he's slow
and autistic. Thanks, Jones.
No, I'm slow about
certain things, too. I said...
Well, anyways,
I was being honest on air.
And I think people have been...
I think a lot of the stuff
you said...
Have been manipulating
and giving you guys stuff...
BALL: That's it.
We're not talking anymore.
You're not doing this.
That's not even a thought.
That's not the way this goes.
ALEX: Why? 'Cause you can't feed
'em fake videos anymore?
BALL: Oh, shut your mouth.
ALEX: That's what you try to do
is shut my mouth.
- You'll never succeed.
- BANKSTON: Let it go.
- ALEX: That's okay.
- BANKSTON: Don't touch me, sir.
Well, I think
I'm autistic too, mate.
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
- OFFICER: Stop there and stay.
See that?
They came over to see us.
BANKSTON: (SIGHS)
Mr. Jones, I want to know,
you taking this trial seriously?
You're approaching it
in good faith?
- Absolutely.
- BANKSTON: Okay.
The truth is,
you and your company
want the world to believe
that this judge is rigging
this court proceeding
to make sure that a script,
a literal script,
is being followed.
That's what you want
the world to believe.
No, I believe the jury's real.
BANKSTON: Okay.
Your Honor, at this time,
we'd like to offer a clip
from Infowars on Friday
from the purposes of impeachment
in which those exact words
were said.
So that's why the judge is
rigging the court proceeding,
to make sure that the script,
this is literally a script,
a script gets told in a certain
way for future audiences.
That's from your show, isn't it?
- That's justice on fire.
- BANKSTON: Oh, okay.
- Can I see it, please?
- BANKSTON: Yes, you may, Your Honor.
(CHUCKLES)
BANKSTON: This is you taking
this trial seriously
and in good faith?
That's what this is?
ALEX: The judge is the fire
of burning Lady Liberty.
It's not the judge...
(STAMMERS)
The judge is consuming freedom.
BANKSTON: I sure hope
some of your viewers
are able to make
that distinction
that you just split on
that hair, don't you?
One of the things
you talked about yesterday
is you complied with discovery,
you said that
on the witness stand?
That's one of the things
I talked about.
Okay. One of the things
that you were ordered to do
in this lawsuit...
you were ordered to turn over
any text messages
mentioning Sandy Hook, right?
- Yes.
- And you didn't have any. Right?
Not that we could find.
And you, in fact, told me
in your sworn testimony,
before coming to this courtroom,
you searched, right?
- ALEX: I did.
- Okay.
Mr. Jones, I'd like
to show you what's been marked
as claimant's exhibit 130.
- That's text messages.
- Yes.
BANKSTON: And they mention
Sandy Hook, don't they?
(SNIFFLES) Yes.
I've never seen
this text message.
You guys have all this stuff,
and you say
we didn't give anything.
So you did get my text messages.
You said you didn't. Nice trick.
BANKSTON: Twelve days ago,
your attorneys messed up
and sent me
an entire digital copy
of your entire cell phone
with every text message
you've sent
for the past two years.
And that is how I know
you lied to me
when you said
you didn't have text messages
about Sandy Hook.
Did you know that?
I... See, I told you the truth.
This is your Perry Mason moment.
I gave them my phone. And then...
GAMBLE: Mr. Jones,
you need to answer the question.
- No, I...
- BANKSTON: Did you know this happened?
No, I didn't know this happened.
But I mean, I told you.
I gave my phone over.
GAMBLE:
Just answer the question.
BANKSTON: You said
in your deposition,
you searched your phone.
You were asked,
"Do you have Sandy Hook
text messages on your phone?"
And you said, "No."
You said that under oath,
Mr. Jones, didn't you?
I mean, if I was mistaken,
I was mistaken.
But you've got the messages
right there.
BANKSTON: You know
what perjury is, right?
I just want to make sure
you know
before we go any further.
You know what it is.
ALEX: Yes, I do.
BANKSTON: But you testified,
under oath, previously,
that you, personally,
searched your phone,
for the phrase "Sandy Hook"
and there were no messages.
- You said that under oath.
- ALEX: Yes.
- And you lied when you said it.
- No, I did not lie.
BANKSTON: Are you aware
that your attorney has argued
this is what you should pay
for the damages?
Do you agree with it?
- Do I agree with it?
- A dollar. A dollar, is that...
We done?
I'll pay it for you.
Are we done?
What does the New York Times do
for lying about WMDs?
BANKSTON: I don't think
there's any point
in asking you
any more questions, Mr. Jones.
ALEX: Okay.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
BANKSTON:
It couldn't have gone better.
This case was going to end
just like it began.
The very first question
I ever asked Jones
was about,
"Why are you lying to me?"
And the very last thing
I ever showed the jury was,
"This man's a liar."
GAMBLE: Ladies
and gentlemen of the jury,
at this time, I will present
to you the charge of the court.
You will go to the jury room
to decide the case,
answer the questions that are
attached, and reach a verdict.
Answer separately in dollars
and cents for each person
for the damages listed below,
if any.
COURT CLERK: All rise.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
FAN: Hello, we love you.
(MUTTERS)
You guys got any questions?
REPORTER 1:
Just your thoughts on today.
Our side told the truth.
Their lawyers
did nothing but lie.
But there's no
deep pockets here,
so they're in
for a rude awakening.
So no matter what
the verdict is, I'm at peace.
I always try to tell the truth.
REPORTER 2: What did you think
about the text messages?
God bless, guys.
Appreciate you for coming.
FAN: We love you
Love, love, love.
(QUIET CHATTER)
BANKSTON:
What was that Tom Petty said,
"Waiting is the hardest part"?
The idea of him going back and
starting this all over again,
he will.
That's why for a punitive
damage verdict,
you must take enough
so that he can never
re-enter public life.
Because if you do...
If this isn't his exit
from the American stage,
his story is nowhere
near close to over.
- (SIRENS WAILING DISTANTLY)
- (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(CAR HORNS HONKING)
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
- Mm-hmm.
- COURT CLERK: All rise.
GAMBLE: All right,
you may be seated.
All right, could you hand
the verdict
to Ms. Matusek-Steele, please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Question number one,
4,200,000 dollars.
Question number two,
20,500,000 dollars.
Question number three,
20,500,000 dollars.
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
BANKSTON: It's the end
of the beginning.
And boy, are these clients
happy about it.
There was certainly a message
sent out of this courthouse
today, that's for sure.
REPORTER:
So, what's your message?
SCARLETT: To other parents,
I wanted to represent you well.
I know that
you have endured pain,
um, just like I have
over the past ten years.
I truly do hope and believe
that this will usher in
a new era of
the importance of truth.
It was obviously higher
than we wanted,
higher than I believe
was supported by the evidence,
but it was still
a manageable number.
You know, kept my client alive.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
REPORTER: So, it's day one
of another Alex Jones
defamation trial
here in Connecticut.
We're about 20 miles away
from Newtown.
Even ten years after
the Sandy Hook tragedy,
these Sandy Hook families
and victims
are still facing harassment
because Jones spread lies
and called the shooting a hoax.
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
They're coming for everybody,
ladies and gentlemen.
"Alex Jones goes to trial
for a second time
in Sandy Hook hoax case."
But I'll tell you this,
we can stay on air through
everything they're doing
if we keep fighting
and don't give up.
But it takes massive money.
Don't go through
everything you've done
supporting this broadcast
and then give up at the end.
Now is the most critical
time ever
to support infowarsstore.com.
(MUSIC FADES)
- Morning.
- (OVERLAPPING CHATTER)
Each of you
was chosen to be here today
to compensate them
for their grief.
And you're being asked
to make an example of Alex.
Money is their weapon of choice.
Money is their weapon.
Disarm them.
First, they came for Alex Jones.
Who's next?
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
My name is David Wheeler.
Last name spelled W-H-E-E-L-E-R.
- Francine Wheeler.
- Erica Lafferty.
My name is Nicole Hockley.
I do.
MATTEI: Our families
will take the stand
and they will testify.
It took a lot of courage
to start this case
in the first place,
knowing that they would expose
themselves to even more abuse.
JOSH KOSKOFF: Are you the father
- of Benjamin Wheeler?
- Yes.
KOSKOFF: And did Benjamin Wheeler
die in the Sandy Hook shooting?
DAVID WHEELER: Yes.
Just after the two-year
anniversary,
I was on my way
to a birthday party
and I was at a gas station
and somebody just walked out
and pointed
and was like, "You're part
of that Sandy Hook hoax."
And they said,
"Look, see, she's an actor."
People were, you know,
accusing me of lying,
telling me Ben never lived,
uh, telling me that
I was going to burn in hell,
and that I would pay
for what I had done.
You know, things would be
mailed to my house.
There were, you know,
threats of rape and...
KOSKOFF: You were receiving
threats from people
saying they were going
to rape you?
Correct.
Someone came to the house.
This person demanded to see Ben.
"I know he's here.
I know he's alive."
KOSKOFF: Is this still
happening to you?
Yes.
You know, it makes you feel
like you don't matter.
You know, it makes you feel
like what you went through
doesn't matter.
Jacqueline Barden, B-A-R-D-E-N.
Daniel was our baby,
but yet,
he was so compassionate.
KOSKOFF: Did you and Mark
get threatening letters?
JACQUELINE BARDEN: Yeah.
One... I remember one saying
that they were
at Daniel's grave,
and they had peed on his grave
because they didn't think
anybody, you know,
they didn't believe
that Daniel was buried.
And another letter...
KOSKOFF: These letters came
to your home?
- What's that?
- KOSKOFF: These letters
- came to your home?
- Yeah. And then another letter
was that they were gonna...
they were gonna dig
Daniel's grave up,
because he wasn't there,
to prove it.
My name is Mark Barden.
That was a very typical moment.
He was a very affectionate
little boy.
It was grueling.
It was excruciating,
mostly because we had
to re-expose ourselves
to the very thing
that we were trying to stop.
To stand there in the austerity
of a court of law
and to expose all of that.
It's about the most vulnerable
one can feel.
So, it's a whole lot.
It's a whole lot of everything
all at once.
Daniel's grave, um,
this is so sacrosanct
and hallowed
a place for my family,
and to hear that people
were desecrating it
and urinating on it
and threatening to dig it up...
I... I don't know
how to articulate to you
what that feels like,
but that's where we are.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ALEX: Hello everybody.
I'm here for the four-year
planned show trial...
MATTEI: Alex Jones.
He's under subpoena to be here.
So, you know, there's real
consequences for him
if he doesn't show.
ALEX: They're using these
families as pawns.
I have questioned hundreds
of major events,
and I've always done it
from a good place.
That's why I have
a giant audience
of millions and millions
of loyal listeners,
because they know, unlike
the corporate controlled media,
I try to tell the truth.
These people lie on purpose.
That's a big difference.
I've made mistakes by accident.
They're lying on purpose,
and they've misrepresented
everything I've said and done.
Find the real Alex Jones
at infowars.com.
And we have the number one book
in the world,
The Great Reset:
And the War for the World,
that exposes the globalists,
Klaus Schwab, the WEF,
and the New World Order.
And that's why they're coming
after me, trying to silence me,
because liberty and freedom
is popular,
and they will not silence me,
and we will not be stopped,
and America will prevail
peacefully
with justice and liberty.
The answer to the 1984 tyranny
is 1776. Thank you very much.
(REPORTERS CHATTERING)
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
ALISSA: I didn't know
how I would react
when I saw him in person.
You know, in Texas he was on,
"I'm a good guy,
I'm your friend,"
and that tone was completely
different in Connecticut.
He was angry.
He looked pissed.
Like, "I don't want to be here,
I shouldn't be here."
He wouldn't even look at us
in Connecticut.
He wouldn't acknowledge us.
It was like
we didn't even exist.
He didn't want to say like,
"Hey, I'm sorry,"
'cause he wasn't.
He wasn't sorry.
There's a part of you that...
wants him to feel what you feel.
See what he has caused.
You want some moment...
of connecting
with this abuser...
where he can just have
an inkling of respect for you,
or a moment of reflection.
And he wasn't going
to give us that.
MATTEI: The lie you spread...
for years and years
was that the families behind me
were actors, correct?
- I can't answer...
- MATTEI: That's a yes or no.
- NORM PATTIS: No, objection.
- (STAMMERS) It's too complex...
- Sorry.
- PATTIS: Motion in limine.
MATTEI: Mr. Jones, for years
and years and years,
you acknowledge that among
the things that you said
about Sandy Hook
was that it was fake?
- Yes?
- Yes.
- MATTEI: Synthetic?
- Yes.
- MATTEI: Manufactured?
- Yes.
- MATTEI: With actors?
- Yes.
- MATTEI: Total hoax?
- Yes.
MATTEI: You acknowledge that,
repeatedly, you mocked parents?
I'm... no, not parents.
I said Robbie Parker
looked fake to me.
ROBBIE: He carries
a presence with him.
There's an energy with him,
and it draws people,
even people who are
disgusted by him, as I am.
You still can't take
your eyes off of him, right?
You can't help but
follow him around,
and I hate to admit that.
MATTEI: Robbie Parker's
sitting right here.
And for years, you put a target
on his back, didn't you?
PATTIS: Objection to
the form of that, judge.
BARBARA BELLIS: Overruled.
MATTEI: You put a target
on his back,
just like you did
every single parent
and loved one sitting here,
didn't you?
- PATTIS: Objection, judge.
- ALEX: No, I didn't.
- MATTEI: No, you didn't?
- PATTIS: That's argumentative.
- There's no... It's speculative.
- BELLIS: Let's move on.
MATTEI: These are real people.
You know that, Mr. Jones?
PATTIS: Objection. I think
you just told him to move on.
ALEX: Just like all the Iraqis
you liberals kill and love.
You're just...
You're unbelievable.
You switch on emotions
on and off when you want.
You're... It's just
ambulance-chasing.
MATTEI: Why don't you show
a little respect, Mr. Jones?
PATTIS: Objection, judge.
I think you get what you give
in this courtroom.
Objection.
MATTEI: You have families
in this courtroom here
that lost children,
sisters, wives,
moms.
Is this a struggle session?
Are we in China?
I've already said I'm sorry
hundreds of times,
and I'm done saying I'm sorry.
I didn't progenerate this.
I wasn't the first person
to say it.
American gun owners didn't like
being blamed for this
as the Left did,
so we rejected it mentally
and said it must not be true.
But I legitimately thought
it might have been staged,
and I stand by that,
and I don't apologize for it.
MATTEI: And don't apologize,
Mr. Jones.
Please, don't apologize.
No, I've already apologized
to the parents
- over and over again.
- MATTEI: Because we know...
- I don't apologize to you.
- PATTIS: Objection. Objection.
I don't apologize to you.
MATTEI: You're gonna
do it again, aren't you?
- PATTIS: Objection, Judge.
- MATTEI: Aren't you?
- No, I'm not.
- MATTEI: You're not?
PATTIS: Objection. Objection.
Argumentative.
I don't apologize to you.
This is your homepage, right?
Infowars.com?
- ALEX: Yes.
- MATTEI: Three weeks ago.
A little bit bigger, please.
Just the part
with the survey there.
And you're asking your audience,
"What will be the most likely
deep state false flag
- ahead of the midterms," right?
- ALEX: Yes.
MATTEI: What's the first option?
Mass shooting,
but I didn't write the poll.
MATTEI: Excuse me, sir.
Mass shooting?
Yes.
And you're inviting
your audience, even now,
even after all this, to suspect
that the next people,
the next Robbie Parker,
the next family are actors, too.
- PATTIS: Objection, argumentative.
- No.
- BELLIS: Overruled.
- I'm done, Your Honor.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
MATTEI:
What I ultimately wanted to do
was to get the jury to see
just how dangerous this man
is likely to be in the future.
This is gonna happen again,
and he knows
what he's gonna say.
You know, what you want
is the truth
of, like, the rottenness
at his core to be revealed.
Uh, you get a lot of that
through the videos,
but until you see him
in court do his thing,
it's different.
You got parents laughing,
going "Ha ha ha! Watch this!"
and then going... (FAKE SOBS)
Method acting, going...
(FAKE SOBS)
(WHIMPERING) "Oh, my child!"
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
MATTEI: Is that what you did,
Mr. Parker?
The fake crying,
the method acting?
ROBBIE: No.
MATTEI: This is a few
months later.
And then you've got parents
laughing, going, "Ha ha ha,"
and then they walk over
to the camera and go...
(FAKE CRIES)
MATTEI: That was September 2014.
Mr. Parker,
your family's still deluged
with the threats and harassment?
They would come in these waves.
And it was almost like I knew
when Alex Jones said something,
because we would get a huge
wave of stuff,
more and more and more attacks.
I started to hate
that... that video.
MATTEI: That video, you mean
the video of yourself?
Exactly.
MATTEI: Exhibit 20A,
December 27th, 2014.
And then the parents laughing,
and then one second later,
doing the actor breathing
to cry.
I mean, it's just...
It's just over the top.
- MATTEI: 2015 now.
- ROB DEW: Stinks to high heaven.
You got the actor father
who comes out,
gets into character.
MATTEI: On November 18th, 2016.
ALEX: Then we see footage
of one of the reported fathers
of the victims, Robbie Parker,
doing classic acting training,
where he's laughing and joking,
and they say, "Hey, we're live,"
and he goes, "Oh."
(BREATHES HEAVILY, SOBS)
I already felt like I failed
Emilie as a dad
when she was alive.
Because I...
because we sent her to school.
And I was especially starting
to feel like I was failing her
in her death,
because of what
people were saying about her.
And what they were saying
about me trying to remember her.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBBIE: The most powerful thing
for me about doing that was
that I finally got to put
my voice out there.
And I got to...
I got to put my experience
out there
in a way that actually
really mattered.
Like, take that press conference
that I gave.
He had taken it from me.
He defiled it. He literally just
shit all over
one of the most important things
I feel like I've ever done
in my life.
And so to be given
an opportunity to, like,
take that back,
that's the most precious thing
I think I can take away
from this trial.
So, I trust that the jury
has been fantastic,
and they've been very attentive,
and they're gonna do
what they feel is best,
and I'm happy
with whatever that is.
But I've got what I need
out of this already.
BELLIS: So, ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,
here you are tasked with
addressing the issue of damages,
as the court
previously determined
that the defendants are liable.
It is for you alone to decide
on the amount of damages
in this case.
MATTEI:
The verdict needs to reflect
the kind of exponential harm
that lies can now have.
And I don't think Alex Jones has
ever really appreciated that.
And people like him, and him,
need to appreciate that.
And the only way
to make them appreciate it,
I think, is to hang
a big verdict around their head.
- (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
- (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ALEX: They're about to announce
the verdict.
Let's go to the audio
of the biggest show trial
in U.S. history.
(INAUDIBLE)
ALEX: The judge looks pleased.
Probably 200 million dollars.
(CHUCKLES)
I don't have any money,
so it's all a big joke.
This is their trial.
This is them on trial.
This is ambulance-chasing
on steroids.
Come on, crucify me.
Let's get it going.
Saveinfowars.com,
infowarsstore.com.
JUROR: To plaintiff
Robbie Parker.
A, defamation slash slander
damages past and future,
60 million dollars.
- Yeah!
- JUROR: B, emotional distress damages...
- Whoo!
- past and future,
60 million dollars.
Total fair, just,
and reasonable damages
to plaintiff Robert Parker
and against Alex Jones
and Free Speech Systems,
under line A and line B,
total 120 million dollars.
ROBBIE: I didn't know
how to feel,
except for just like this
big sense of like relief.
And then that sense
of validation came through.
And then that sense of, like...
like you're seen,
and you're understood,
and you're loved, and...
And I... I could feel it
from everywhere.
And it was really overwhelming.
(SOFT TRIUMPHANMUSIC PLAYING)
JUROR:
To plaintiff David Wheeler,
55 million dollars.
Yeah! Whoo!
JUROR:
To plaintiff Francine Wheeler,
total 54 million dollars.
To plaintiff Jacqueline Barden,
28,800,000 dollars.
Bravo.
JUROR:
To plaintiff Mark Barden,
57,600,000 dollars.
ROBBIE: Nine hundred
sixty-five million
is what it was.
And, um, I just remember
thinking, like,
"There's no way that Alex Jones
is going to be able to sell
enough supplements
to be able to pay that off."
Guess what? We're not scared,
and we're not going away.
So, please, go to
infowarsstore.com
and get Vitamin Mineral Fusion,
get X3.
Flood us with donations.
(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)
Today, a jury
representing our community
and our nation rendered
a historic verdict,
a verdict
against Alex Jones's lies
and their poisonous spread.
This jury bore witness
to Alex Jones's ten-year attack,
an attack that made him
very rich,
an attack that targeted
these families
with the lie
that they were frauds.
And all for Alex Jones's
personal profit.
All Alex Jones does
is take from you,
exploit you, lie to you,
feed your fears
and your anxieties
and your mistrust,
and the only person
that benefits
in that equation is him.
Well, that stops.
That's stopping today,
thanks to the courage
of these families.
Thank you very much.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
MATTEI: It's the biggest verdict
in a defamation case
in United States history.
The reason that it's so big
is because there has never
been technology
capable of spreading
a lie so fast
and causing so much damage
as we have now.
I think
a really insidious problem
that we're just as a society
figuring out how to deal with,
and these cases are one way.
They're not the only way,
but I think they're going to
end up being an important way.
And we have the families
to thank for that.
BANKSTON: Why are people
willing to believe
invented, manufactured lies
that can be shut down
in a second,
that can be debunked
with the simplest of actions?
Why?
Why are they so thirsty for it?
Why are they ingesting it?
Why are they believing it?
That question goes far beyond
what happened in this case,
because I can guarantee you,
we can solve
the Alex Jones problem,
but we will not solve
the greater problem
that allowed Alex Jones
to flourish.
And Spiderman defeated
the Goblin,
and the Goblin fighting back
was still alive...
VERONIQUE:
This was his backpack.
He always had, um,
stuffed animals.
First grade homework packet,
that's what he should've
brought home that day,
and didn't get to.
This is the jacket he wore
on that fateful day.
It's just a... a way
to link with him.
Noah, he was cheated.
He was cheated of life.
And he was cheated afterwards...
of honoring that life...
by people who purported that...
you know, they were bringing
"the truth" to light.
When, in fact,
what they were doing
was desecrating his memory.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MUSIC FADES)
(TENSE STRING MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)