Infowars host takes show to D.C., tussles with Rubio outside hearing
WASHINGTON — The internet’s most infamous right-wing conspiracy theorist was doing his best robot through the hallway of a staid Senate office building.
“Beep beep beep beep — I am a Russian bot,” the provocateur, Alex Jones, mimed Wednesday, his arms outstretched, his body spinning in circles. “Beep beep. I am a Russian bot in the Capitol.”
Dozens of protesters roamed Capitol Hill on Wednesday to disrupt the second day of confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
But Jones was on hand to cast a shadow over a different show — a pair of marquee congressional hearings scrutinizing the influence two of the nation’s largest technology companies: Facebook and Twitter.
It was quite a performance, even for the incendiary Jones. He tussled with police and wandered in and out of the hearing room. For nearly an hour, he inveighed against Democrats and mainstream news outlets that he said were slandering him.
When Sen. Marco Rubio, the pugnacious Florida Republican, stepped out of the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to speak with reporters, Jones homed in. Rubio launched into a discussion of the risks of authoritarian governments abusing social media platforms.
“But what about the Democrats purging conservatives?” Jones cut in. “He’s not answering. Republicans are acting like it isn’t happening. Thank God Trump is.”
A bewildered Rubio rolled his eyes. “He’s weird,” he said, asking aloud who Jones was — a question that appeared designed to irk Jones.
Then Jones patted Rubio on the shoulder.
“Don’t touch me again, man,” Rubio said. “I’m asking you not to touch me.”
Jones asked if the senator would have him arrested.
“You’re not going to get arrested,” Rubio continued. “I’ll take care of you myself.”
“Oh, he’ll beat me up. He doesn’t know who I am, but he is so mad,” Jones said with excitement. “You are not going to silence me. You are not going to silence America. You are literally like a little gangster thug. Rubio just threatened to silence me.”
The senator walked away and the show went on.
Jones and his website, Infowars, have peddled theories that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax and that Democrats run a global child-sex ring.