Alex Jones has declared ‘the cavalry is here’ as attorneys for Elon Musk’s X jumped in to help put a temporary pause on the sale of his beloved Infowars to The Onion.
The satirical news publication said the bid was sanctioned by the families of Sandy Hook Elementary victims who won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2022.
But a federal judge has questioned the secretive bidding process, with Jones believing it gives him a chance to reclaim his outlet.
Lawyers for the Musk-owned social media outlet filed a notice of appearance in Jones’ bankruptcy case Thursday.
The filing, dated Thursday, doesn’t specify why they’ve appeared, merely that they want to become an interested party in the case and want to receive all relevant documentation.
Jones reveled in the news in a broadcast on X Sunday evening, believing that ‘the cavalry is here’ to rescue Infowars.
‘I was told Elon is going to be very involved in this,’ Jones said, while heaping praise on Musk as a defender of freedom and free speech.
‘Elon Musk understands these basic fundamentals that more people need to understand,’ he said.
He also believes that Donald Trump – who Jones has also expressed support for in the past – is equally outraged by what’s happened to Jones.
‘The cavalry is here. Trump is p****d,’ he said.
Harrison Smith, an Infowars host, posted a video to X also claiming Trump to be involved in the case.
‘Apparently, Trump is involved, Elon Musk’s lawyers were at the hearing yesterday because it has to do with them trying to take Alex Jones’ name and his personal Twitter account, so Elon is invested in it because it will set a precedent for using lawfare to force X to sign over their personal accounts,’ he said.
Both X and The Onion have yet to publicly comment on this development but CEO Ben Collins’ gave the comedy site’s take on the controversy earlier this weekend.
‘Long and short of it: We won the bid and — you’re not going to believe it — the previous InfoWars folks aren’t taking it well,’ he wrote.
‘We expected all of this, obviously. Buying this site was always going to be fun later on, but annoying right away. Anyway, we look forward to completing this process at the next scheduled court date — which, at present, is a week from Monday,’ Collins continued.
Judge Christopher M. Lopez announced during a status conference in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas that the meeting would be held to discuss whether the people running the auction ran ‘a fair and full process.’
‘I personally don’t care who wins the auction, I care about process and transparency,’ the judge said, adding that ‘nobody should feel comfortable’ about what happened. No date has been set for the hearing.
Jones has raged against that very process since the winning bid on behalf of the satirical news site was announced Thursday.
In two videos posted Thursday evening, a furious Jones claimed that the sale is not yet official.
‘[My lawyers] had a total consensus: they’ve never seen anything like it. This was a private, secret sale… basically illegal, this is bankruptcy crime on its face disguised as an auction that wasn’t an auction.’
‘The people didn’t even pay real money, they paid some weird FIAT thing that wasn’t agreed to by the judge’s order and then they had the corporate media say that The Onion bought Infowars.’
Jones says that the people behind The Onion ‘didn’t do anything’ and called it ‘unprecedented,’ blaming it on his frequent targets at the ‘Deep State.’
‘It’s crazy. Nobody sees how the federal judge, who’s known for being straight-laced, cannot end this fake sale, where he basically said it didn’t happen and bare minimum, there’ll be a new, open, public auction.’
He then made a promise: ‘Everybody thinking Infowars was shut down, you’re in for a rude awakening.’
Jones has also claimed that there are ‘good guys’ trying to buy Infowars – First United American Companies LLC which operates ShopAlexJones.com – and that their lawyers have ‘never seen’ anything like this.
Trustee Christopher Murray admitted that the process seemed unorthodox but it went along with what the victims’ families wanted.
‘I’ve never seen this before in any other case, and we did a lot of research, and we’ve never found it,’ he said.
‘But I’ve always thought my goal was to maximize the recovery for unsecured creditors, and under one bid, they’re clearly better than they were under the other.’
The auction stemmed from Jones’ personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after the families won lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas over his claims that the school shooting that killed 20 children and six adults was a hoax.
Infowars will be relaunched in January as a new parody of itself under The Onion umbrella, as reported by The New York Times.
Collins said it will mock ‘weird internet personalities’ like Jones who spread conspiracy theories.
The Onion has declined to disclose how much it paid for Infowars. The purchase includes the Infowars’ studio and a diet supplement business.
‘The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,’ Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.
Sealed bids for the private auction were opened Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones had expressed interest in buying Infowars. The other bidders have not been disclosed.
The Onion, a satirical site that manages to persuade people to believe the absurd, bills itself as ‘the world’s leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international, and local news events’ and says it has 4.3 trillion daily readers.
Jones has been saying on his show that if his detractors bought Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, websites and social media accounts that he has already set up. He also said that if his supporters won the bidding, he could stay on the Infowars platforms.
Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ conspiracies and threats by his followers.
The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas. Lawyers for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they worked with The Onion to try to acquire Infowars.