Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones reacted to his latest legal setback in a defamation lawsuit brought by families who lost loved ones during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre by lashing out at the presiding judge. He also attacked parents whose children were murdered and used the legal development to urge supporters to buy products from an online store operated by his Infowars outlet.

On November 15, The New York Times reported that a Connecticut court issued a default judgment against Jones over his refusal to provide documents to the Sandy Hook victims’ families who are suing him over his repeated claim that the shooting was a hoax. The default judgment follows three other default judgments issued by a Texas court in late September in lawsuits brought by other Sandy Hook family members. In all four lawsuits, juries will now determine the damages Jones is liable for. 

Jones has lied about the Sandy Hook massacre for years, variously saying that it was “staged,” that it was an “inside job,” that “undoubtedly there’s a cover-up,” that it was a “giant hoax,” that “the whole thing was fake,” and that “in my view,” it was “manufactured.” Jones’ vile claims also include questioning whether a Sandy Hook father actually held his son’s body and saw the bullet hole in his head after the shooting. These claims have triggered harassment campaigns against bereaved families. 

During the November 15 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show, Jones reacted at length to the default judgment issued in Connecticut. He lashed out at Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, who issued the ruling, by saying that she was committing “fraud” against him and that the ruling signaled “the end of the country as we know it.”

Later during his broadcast, Jones used his legal defeat to pitch products sold at his online Infowars store. He said, “We need a lot of financial support so that we’re going to expand in the face of all this massively into the new year,” before pitching Infowars products including nutritional supplements “Brain Force Plus” and “BodEase Ultimate Turmeric,” as well as Infowars-branded T-shirts.

He also slammed parents whose children were murdered in the massacre, saying that they “have attached themselves to me so anytime my name’s brought up, their children and what happened to them gets back in the news. And so this is nothing but a bunch of propaganda.”