Alex Jones, an extremist who has previously promoted hoaxes on his Texas-based internet broadcast, has asked a Connecticut judge to subpoena Hillary Clinton, claiming she is behind a group of Sandy Hook families suing him for defamation.
Norm Pattis, one of Jones’ attorneys, said Clinton wanted revenge for Jones’ “vitriolic criticism” of her on his Infowars program.
“The defendants in this case believe that this suit was filed six years after the shootings at Sandy Hook as part of a vendetta inspired, orchestrated and directed in whole or in part by Hillary Clinton,” Pattis wrote in state Superior Court. “(It’s) part of a vendetta to silence Alex Jones after Ms. Clinton lost the presidential race to Donald J. Trump.”
Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the families, responded in court on Tuesday with a motion to sanction Jones, calling the request to depose Clinton “frivolous” and “abusive.”
“It appears to be a publicity stunt in service of a new conspiracy theory spun by Alex Jones filed for the abusive purpose of deposing a highly prominent person who has no relation to the case,” Mattei wrote.
Eight families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre are suing Jones for calling the slaying of 26 first-graders and educators in 2012 “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”
Jones in court papers says he no longer believes the worst crime in Connecticut history was a hoax, and that the First Amendment gives him the right to be wrong.
Jones is being sued for defamation by other Sandy Hook families in separate cases in Texas, but the Connecticut case has been making the headlines recently. In April, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Jones’ appeal of sanctions he received in 2019 after he went on the air with Pattis and threatened an attorney representing the Connecticut families with a “blood on the streets” rant.
In the latest pretrial motion, Pattis argues that Clinton has a direct connection with Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, who is suing Jones.
“It is clear as a matter of public record, that Erica Lafferty, the lead plaintiff in this case, was invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. Ms. Lafferty was also praised thereafter by Hillary Clinton,” Pattis writes. “The defendants intend to ask Ms. Clinton about her endorsement of Ms. Lafferty in 2016, the factors that led Ms. Lafferty to be invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and what role, if any, Ms. Clinton or those working under her direction had in directing the plaintiffs to the same firm in this case.”
Clinton and Lafferty were not immediately available on Tuesday morning to comment.
“Although Mr. Jones made certain statements about Sandy Hook as early 2012, and largely stopped making claims about Sandy Hook in the years thereafter, the plaintiffs in this action waited until 2018 to bring the instant action,” Pattis wrote. “The litigation is brought and pursued in bad faith as part of a partisan effort to silence Mr. Jones for reasons wholly independent of the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims.”