On Jan. 6, Mr. Jones helped secure at least $650,000 from Publix grocery store heiress Giulia Fancelli, an Infowars fan, to secure Mr. Trump’s Ellipse rally on the morning of the attack, $200,000 of which was contributed to one. from Mr. Jones’s business accounts, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack said. On the eve of the riots, Mr. Jones was at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, where Trump aides and allies have set up an outpost. He has longstanding ties to at least half a dozen people arrested in the aftermath of the riots, including Stuart Rhodes, founder of the far-right Oathkeeper militia, who is still a regular on Infowars, and Joseph Biggs, a former Infowars and Proud Boys employee. leader.
The House Committee subpoenaed Mr. Jones and included a three-page search list of his relevant communications and financial records. The group is also looking for Mr. Jones’ contacts with Mr. Trump, his family, and anyone in the White House or Congress in the days leading up to the riots. Interrogated by the commission this year, Mr. Jones invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times and is trying to block the committee’s demand for court records.
Whatever the outcome of the Jan. 6 investigation, Mr. Jones’ journey from Sandy Hook to the Capitol storm is a reflection of how conspiracy theories in the United States have metastasized and corroded public discourse in the digital age. A defender of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and a former regular on RT, the Kremlin-funded international television channel, Mr. Jones has taken such extreme views on American democratic society that he called airport security checks a conspiracy to usurp American power. freedom – that in 2011 RT stopped inviting him to air.
But after Mr. Trump spoke live in an interview on the Infowars website in December 2015, Mr. Jones traveled from the fringes to become part of the newly radicalized Republican Party. Infowars made more than $50 million a year during Trump’s presidency by selling dietary supplements, body armor and other products on its website, court filings show. During and after the Jan. 6 riots, Infowars promoted its merchandise along with graphic videos, including Infowars cameraman footage of a Capitol police officer being shot while attacking pro-Trump rioter Ashley Babbitt.
Mr. Jones did not respond to messages asking for comment. His lawyer, Norm Pattis, said his client did nothing wrong on January 6.