Will Alex Jones Become Trump’s Press Secretary?
Infowars host Alex Jones has accepted the role of President-elect Donald Trump’s press secretary.
As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump won the November 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris, many people speculated about who would have a role on his staff. Conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones’ name had been floated for press secretary by Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. in 2023, long before the election.
On Nov. 7, 2024, Jones posted a photograph of himself wielding a rifle in front of a large truck on X, with the caption: “I formally accept the offer to serve as President Trump’s new Press secretary.”
(X user @RealAlexJones)
There was no evidence that Trump had offered Jones the position and it was possible Jones was joking. The Trump campaign did not answer an emailed question from Snopes about whether Jones was selected for that role.
Jones’ post likely referenced the 2023 comment from Donald Trump Jr., who suggested Jones for the position on his podcast, alongside far-right activist Laura Loomer: “There’s a couple people I want to put in as press secretary for like a month. Two weeks to a month just to put these idiots in their place. … Alex Jones for like a month would put these people in their place because — not saying he’s got everything right — but he’s got a lot more right over the last decade or so than anyone in our mainstream media and I can say that for a fact and I’ll get criticized for it but that’s reality.”
Jones also posted a follow-up, suggesting that he had not received such an offer. Social media personality Ian Miles Cheong replied to Jones, “Can you guys imagine how funny that’d be?” Jones followed that with, “It world [sic] be next level” suggesting that it was only a possibility.
Many media reports speculated the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was the frontrunner for the job.
Jones generated controversy in 2012 by falsely claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting that year was a hoax. In response, a number of Sandy Hook families filed defamation lawsuits against him, resulting in a court-ordered judgment that he would have to pay $1.5 billion in damages. At the time of this writing, Jones’ personal assets were being liquidated and he faced a court-ordered auction of Infowars’ assets, in order to pay the damages. Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen, is appealing the judgments.
It is possible that Donald Trump Jr. and Jones were both joking about the conspiracy theorist taking up the role of press secretary. However, the Trump campaign has not made any official announcements yet, so we have rated this claim as unfounded.
Sources
Collins, Kaitlan and Kristen Holmes, Jeremy Herb, Kayla Tausche, Evan Perez. “Trump’s Allies Are Already Jockeying for High-Powered Spots in His Administration | CNN Politics.” CNN, 6 Nov. 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/06/politics/transition-donald-trump-jockeying/index.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
Spady, Aubrie and Elizabeth Elkind. “Here Are the Most Talked-about Candidates for Top Posts in Trump’s Administration.” Fox News, 7 Nov. 2024, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/here-most-talked-about-candidates-top-posts-trumps-administration. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
Walker, Jackson I. “Trump Jr. Calls for Alex Jones to Join Father’s White House: ‘I’m Not Even Joking.'” KEYE, 29 Dec. 2023, https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/trump-jr-floats-alex-jones-as-fathers-white-house-press-secretary-im-not-even-joking-donald-trump-republican-presidential-candidate-gop-2024-election. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
“What Could Donald Trump’s Cabinet and Administration Look Like?” BBC, Nov. 8, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx24gze60yzo. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
“Who Will Buy Infowars? Both Supporters and Opponents of Alex Jones Interested in Bankruptcy Auction.” AP News, 8 Nov. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/alex-jones-infowars-bankruptcy-sandy-hook-0c80a1293f4b902e32ea7818844dc507. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.