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- Alex Jones reached out to the DOJ regarding a possible interview about his role on January 6, 2021.
- The New York Times reported that the InfoWars host sent the government a letter indicating a “desire” to talk.
- The DOJ has expanded the probe to include the planning of the rally that preceded the riot.
Far-right talk show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has indicated his willingness to sit for an interview with federal prosecutors leading the Justice Department’s expanded investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot and rally, according to The New York Times.
In a statement via his lawyer, Jones said he sent the government a formal letter communicating his “desire” to talk with investigators about the role he played in the rally that preceded the riot, the outlet reported.
The InfoWars host was involved in planning and funding the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, and gave an impassioned speech encouraging the crowd of Trump supporters to march to the Capitol.
“We’re here to take our rightful country back peacefully, because we’re not globalist, antifa criminals,” Jones told the crowd at the rally. “So let’s start marching, and I salute you all.”
Norm Pattis, an attorney for Jones, asserted that his client did not engage in any “criminal wrongdoing” that day, The Times reported. Pattis did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The Justice Department’s January 6 probe was previously focused primarily on the rioters who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stall Congress’s certification of President Joe Biden’s win. But last month, the department expanded the probe to include the planning of former President Donald Trump’s rally ahead of the riot.
A federal grand jury is now seeking information from several people linked to the rallies and Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results.
During the “Stop the Steal” event, which was held just blocks from the US Capitol, Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march on the Capitol. Hundreds of protesters subsequently laid siege to the Capitol in an attack that ultimately led to five deaths.
The Justice Department’s investigation is running concurrently with a congressional probe into the attack, in which lawmakers have issued dozens of subpoenas seeking to link members of Trump’s inner circle to the rioters.
In December, Jones sued the House select committee, aiming to avoid handing over documents for a deposition. When he did eventually testify before the panel earlier this year, Jones invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination almost 100 times.
Jones’ apparent change of heart comes two weeks after another top rally organizer, Ali Alexander, said he was cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation after he received a subpoena from a federal grand jury.
As a condition of being interviewed, Jones requested prosecutorial immunity, The Times reported.
“He distrusts the government,” Pattis told the outlet.
Earlier this month, Jones’ far-right website InfoWars and two other sites affiliated with him filed for bankruptcy as the talk show host faces a slew of defamation lawsuits from parents of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
A lawyer for the families told Insider’s Kieran Press-Reynolds that Jones’ bankruptcy filing was intended as a stalling technique.
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