NEWTOWN -- The far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, founder of the website Infowars.com, is well-known here in Connecticut for calling the Sandy Hook tragedy “a hoax.”
In his YouTube videos, critics have said that Jones mocked Newtown’s grieving parents and questioned the validity of the school shooting. Jones’s channel has since been taken off of YouTube.
In newly released deposition video, Jones blames his conspiracies on psychosis.
“I, myself, have 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,” Jones said.
Attorney Mark Bankston, who represents many of the Sandy Hook families, clarified, asking, “You said false things about Sandy Hook because it was psychosis?”
Jones’s attorney Norm Pattis, responded in a message to FOX61, writing, “Just a turn of phrase. In hindsight, everything is crystal clear.”
Neil Heslin, who lost his 6-year-old son Jesse that tragic day, is among many Sandy Hook parents suing Jones for defamation.
“I made a statement about holding my son with a bullet hole in his head, which was factual,” said Heslin. “Jones stated I was a liar. It was uncalled for and it was strictly targeting me.”
“I will deal with him face to face in court,” Heslin added. “That day will come.”
In the new deposition video, Jones was asked if he was prepared to admit that he has caused Sandy Hook families a substantial amount of pain.
“I do not take the responsibility,” Jones said.
Jones and his attorney are due back in court in Texas on April 3.