Infowars founder Alex Jones arrested for DWI in Texas, conspiracy theorist says he had ‘small amount of saké’
AUSTIN, Texas: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was arrested in Texas on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, authorities said Tuesday.
Jones was booked into an Austin jail shortly after midnight and released on bond a few hours later, Travis County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kristen Dark said. She said she had no further details and an arrest report was not immediately available.
Jones is being sued in Austin by the parents of a six-year-old victim of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, who claim the Infowars host used his show to promote falsehoods that the shooting was a hoax. His attorney, in that case, did not immediately respond to a Tuesday message seeking comment about his arrest.
According to reports, in December, a Texas judge ordered Jones to pay $100,000 in court costs and legal fees in the defamation case. The Hill reported that combined with previous lawsuits from parents whose children were victims of the shooting, Jones has been ordered to pay more than $126,000.
Jones founded Infowars and produces his radio show in Austin. An article posted on his Infowars website said Jones discussed the arrest on his show Tuesday and claimed that his blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit of .08 percent. Jones, according to The Daily Beast, claimed that he had been “drinking a small amount of sake at a Japanese restaurant.”
Texas law, reportedly, however, allows for a driver to be charged with a DWI even if they’re under the limit if they’re considered to be impaired.
According to The Daily Beast, this isn’t the first time Jones has been linked to alcohol and driving. In a December 2019 report, a former Infowars staffer described Jones driving while drinking out of a Dixie cup that had the “smell of vodka, like paint thinner” in 2016.
With inputs from AP