The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol has subpoenaed the phone records of a mother whose son works for right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as the panel tries to understand the Infowars host’s role before the riots.
Court documents filed on Sunday show the committee has subpoenaed records for Annette Shroyer, the mother of Jones employee Owen Shroyer, who was charged with breaching the Capitol Hill grounds during the riots last year.
Annette Shroyer has accused the panel of abusing its powers and asked a judge to let her join Jones’ pending lawsuit against the committee, reports Politico. Jones sued the House committee in December last year in an effort to block the subpoenas he’d been issued.
Court documents filed on Sunday show the committee has subpoenaed records for Annette Shroyer, the mother of Jones employee Owen Shroyer, who was charged with breaching the Capitol Hill grounds during the riots. Pictured: Owen Shroyer from InfoWars is removed from a public impeachment inquiry hearing with the House Judiciary Committee in Capitol Hill on December 9, 2019
The mother received notice of the subpoena on February 10 and Verizon has indicated it would provide Annette Shroyer’s phone records unless she filed a suit by February 28. The select committee declined to comment.
Jones’ attorney Norman Pattis indicated in the court filing that Owen Shroyer ‘will properly assert the Fifth Amendment’ against attempts by the House committee to obtain his records. It is not clear if the panel has subpoenaed his phone records.
Owen Shroyer, who hosts ‘The War Room With Owen Shroyer’ for the website operated by Jones, is charged with crimes including disorderly conduct and entering a restricted area of Capitol grounds.
He was seen on the west side of the Capitol next to the inauguration stage as well as at the top of the stairs on the east side of the Capitol, according to court documents. He is not accused of going into the Capitol building.
Owen Shroyer is one of a few people connected to Jones who has been charged over the Capital Hill riots.
Annette Shroyer has accused the panel of abusing its powers and asked a judge to let her join Alex Jones’ (pictured) pending lawsuit against the committee, reports Politico . Jones sued the House committee in December last year in an effort to block the subpoenas he’d been issued.
Jones on Monday said he had appeared before the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots – and invoked the Fifth Amendment ‘almost 100 times’.
Speaking on his InfoWars show Monday, Jones confirmed he had just finished a virtual interview with the committee about the attack on the nation’s capitol building following a rally by President Donald Trump outside the White House.
The right-wing broadcaster had been subpoenaed by the committee to provide testimony and records about the event after he spoke at a rally in Washington DC the day before, and had also been in contact with organizers of the rallies on January 6.
Jones however is not accused of entering the building at any time and has not been cited for any criminal activity.
In the show, broadcast online, he also denied any knowledge of plans for violence on the day of the riots.
‘I went there to have a peaceful political rally, to put peaceful political pressure on Congress,’ Jones said. ‘It’s a horrible historic fiasco and I wish it never happened.’
Jones said that he ‘wanted’ to provide answers to the committee’s ‘overall pretty reasonable’ questions of the events surrounding the Capitol incident, but held back over fears political enemies on the panel could accuse him of perjury.
‘My lawyer told me, almost 100 times today.. : “On advice of counsel, I am asserting my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.” And the media tells you that’s because you’re guilty, or because you’re going to incriminate yourself.’
Jones described the circumstances around January 6 as ‘one big blur’, adding: ‘About half the questions I didn’t know the answer to, and a bunch of them were emails I had never seen and planning things I had never seen. At least from memory.’
In the show, Jones picked on Democrat Adam Schiff, a member of the committee, saying that was ‘famous for creating fake quotes’, and could use Jones’ testimony against him.
Jones described the circumstances around January 6 as ‘one big blur’, adding: ‘About half the questions I didn’t know the answer to, and a bunch of them were emails I had never seen and planning things I had never seen. At least from memory.’
Jones said the committee showed emails and text messages to him during their session from organizers – some of the thousands of records investigators have obtained from dozens of witnesses during their months-long investigation.
He said he ‘didn’t do anything and didn’t plan any violence’.
On a previous show, Jones said that the White House had asked him to ‘lead the march’ to the Capitol.
The right-wing broadcaster had been subpoenaed by the committee to provide testimony and records about the event after he spoke at a rally in Washington DC the day before, and had also been in contact with organizers of the rallies on January 6. Pictured: Jones on the National Mall on January 6
But on his show Monday, he said he never supported efforts to enter the Capitol and that his main point of contact was Trump campaign fundraiser Caroline Wren, who helped organize the rally outside the White House on January 6.
He reiterated the claim that one million people showed up to the march, and the event became ‘impossible to control’.
Of the rioters seen breaking into the Capitol building, Jones said: ‘That was so stupid and so dumb. I did not support it that day and I do not support it now.’
Jones is one of dozens of Trump supporters and allies of the former president who have testified before the committee in recent weeks as the investigation continues to look at rallies leading up to the attack.
