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- Alex Jones filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the legitimacy of the January 6 special committee.
- Investigators had asked Jones to testify and hand over documents related to January 6.
- Jones had been expected to appear for a deposition over the past weekend.
Alex Jones, the Infowars founder and far-right conspiracy theorist who has spread misinformation about school shootings and the 2020 election, filed a lawsuit Monday aimed at thwarting the congressional investigation of the January 6 insurrection.
The House special committee investigating the US Capitol riot in November issued a subpoena to Jones, asking him to hand over documents and testify about his role in the attack. The committee has also issued a subpoena for Jones’ text messages and call records.
“As you have stated, the White House told you on or about January 3, 2021, that after the Elipse rally ended on January 6th, you were to lead a march to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a letter to Jones. A host on Jones’ Infowars platform, Owen Shroyer, has been charged with entering the Capitol.
Jones had been asked to hand over documents by December 6 and appear for his deposition on December 18, according to the subpoena. Jones’ deposition was delayed over the weekend, CNN reported, quoting an aide to the panel as saying Jones had been “engaging” with its members.
In the lawsuit, filed in federal court, Jones’ attorney seeks to cast the fight as one over “individual liberties,” claiming his client has been targeted for political reasons. But the bulk of the complaint is centered on discrediting the January 6 special committee as a whole, claiming that it is illegally constituted because it has nine members, not the 13 called for in the authorizing legislation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two members suggested by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, prompting him and his full slate of five Republicans to boycott the proceedings. However, Pelosi — another defendant listed in the suit — has sole discretion on who to appoint to the panel, which includes two Republicans: Wyoming’s Liz Cheney and Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger.
Jones, in his lawsuit, also asserts that one of those two might actually be a Democrat. Cheney, the complaint asserts, “is a member of the Democrat party” by virtue of the fact she was appointed vice-chair of the panel, a role typically held by a member of the majority party. The Wyoming GOP in November voted to stop recognizing Cheney as a Republican, but she remains a member of the House GOP caucus.
A spokesperson for the select committee did not respond to a request for comment.
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