Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, expressed regret Wednesday over appearing on the program hosted by Infowars publisher and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
“I would not go back on Alex Jones’s show,” Mr. Gaetz told The Hill.
“Upon further reflection, I think the things that Alex Jones has said and done are so hurtful to so many people that a member of Congress should not grace that platform and legitimize it, and I will not go back,” Mr. Gaetz said in an interview.
Mr. Gaetz, 36, appeared on The Alex Jones Show in January 2018, one year into his first term in Congress. The interview was conducted the same day as the resignation of longtime FBI official Andrew McCabe and largely involved allegations of abuse within the Department of Justice.
“We’re called conspiracy theorists because we see this cabal right in front of us. We’re able to aggregate these data points and show what was really going on,” Mr. Gaetz said to Mr. Jones.
Indeed, Mr. Jones, 44, has been labeled a conspiracy theorist for years over his past comments on subjects ranging from the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, to the baseless “Pizzagate” theory that smeared former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in late 2016. Remarks made about either through his Infowars website and syndicated radio program, The Alex Jones Show, have resulted in lawsuits, and a debate rekindled earlier this month over whether social media companies should censor his content to tackle to spread of so-called “fake news.”
“I went on the show because I had an argument to make, and there are millions of people who watch that show. And I think that in this country right now, we already have enough of people kind of self selecting their news sources and creating their own version of truth based on the content that they consume,” Mr. Gaetz told The Hill. “And so I think that as policy makers, we have an obligation to sort of have a kaleidoscope appeoach where we engage in multiple platforms, even in those that are uncomfortable to us.”
Mr. Jones did not immediately return a message seeking comment. He told The Washington Times last week that his past comments about Sandy Hook and Pizzagate have misconstrued by critics who want him censored because “they don’t want someone countering the lies they are putting out.”
President Trump previously appeared on The Alex Jones show in 2015 and told the host: “Your reputation is amazing.” Roger Stone, a former adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign, is a regular guest on the program and contributor for Infowars.
The Alex Jones Show is nationally syndicated and carried by over 100 radio stations across the country, and over 2.4 million users are subscribed to the program’s official YouTube channel.
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