Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has said he tried to stop the Capitol riot after offering to testify before the congressional committee investigating the insurrection in exchange for immunity.
Speaking on his own show on Monday night, the Infowars host insisted he tried to dissuade “thousands” of Donald Trump supporters from breaking into the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
“It’s a bizarre feeling to know that you did nothing wrong,” he told viewers. “To know that you had no motive, and to know that you tried to stop what happened”.
The 48-year-old, who said he was “not asking for a medal”, also argued that law enforcement “sat there while I tried to stop what was happening.”
Claims that “undercover FBI agents” were involved in instigating the riot are a well known conspiracy on the right, despite a lack of evidence.
“When I got there in the middle of it I did turn thousands away from going in,” saidMr Jones, who was reportedly involved in organising the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceeded the assault on the Capitol.
In November, lawmakers on the committee investigating 6 January 2021 issued a subpoena for the Infowars founder and host to cooperate with its probe – identifying Mr Jones as one of the leading supporters and organisers of the “Stop the Steal” rally.
Mr Jones agreed to speak with the committee in return for immunity, his lawyer Norm Pattis told The New York Times last month, while adding that Mr Jones had not carried out any “criminal wrongdoing” on the day of the riot.
He allegedly raised $650,000 (£527,247) for the “Stop the Steal rally” and called 6 January 2021 “the most important call to action on domestic soil” since the date of American independence, The Times reported.
Infowars, the far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website, last month filed for bankruptcy.
