Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said he spoke at a November 5 rally against Arizona election officials and ballot counters after receiving encouragement from people at the White House and from a former Trump administration official. During his deranged speech outside the Maricopa County Elections Department, Jones issued several threats and hyped the prospect of violence against President Donald Trump's political opponents.
During the evening of November 4, Trump supporters began to gather outside of Maricopa County’s elections building to shout about a conspiracy theory that alleges poll workers gave Trump supporters Sharpie permanent markers to use for their ballots in order to spoil and invalidate them. Members of the crowd also chanted “count the vote,” which was exactly what was happening inside the building. The New York Times reported “numerous people were wielding AR-15 rifles and other firearms” at the rally.
Law enforcement formed a line to prevent the Trump supporters from entering the building. Some in the crowd harassed members of the press, “with Phoenix's Fox affiliate taking the bulk of the harassment because Fox News on Tuesday night became the first media organization to call the Arizona contest in favor of Biden.” No evidence has been presented of any wrongdoing or deviation from standard practices by Arizona election officials.
Jones spoke at a follow-up rally on November 5, screaming to the crowd from a bullhorn that “the president is watching” and “you're not going to let them steal this” election. After claiming that the “country is being captured by the globalists, and the ChiComs, and Joe Biden,” Jones turned to big tech companies, yelling that the leaders of Google, Twitter, and Facebook must be “held accountable as espionage operatives” and imprisoned for life.
Then, mentioning George Soros, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos, Jones said “we’re going to take it directly to those scumbag Nazi bastards before they kill this country, just like we did Hitler. And they’ll be in their goddamn bunkers when we come for them, they will be hiding, they will pay, they will be destroyed.” The Infowars host then hyped the prospect of mass violence against those who would steal the election from Trump:
At one point, Jones shouted, “Burn in hell Joe Biden, burn in hell Bill Gates, burn in hell Fauci.”
Jones called into the November 6 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show and said that “some of the folks at the White House” told him that he needed to go to one of the rallies against normal election procedures in the states still counting votes, and that Jones selected Arizona. He also suggested he would soon do another event in Arizona. Jones said he was also encouraged by Amanda Milius, a former Trump administration State Department official who recently appeared on Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight. Claiming that anti-Trump forces are “going to set up America as a slave colony,” he said that he also had spoken to “the highest levels of the White House” the morning of November 6 and had been keyed in to the current strategy being pushed by Trump and his adult sons.
Jones often claims to be in frequent communication with those around Trump and sometimes the president himself, and there is evidence that Jones’ causes have been taken up by Trump. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Trump appeared on Jones’ show to praise the conspiracy theorist’s “amazing” reputation.
