Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is expanding his far-right media empire and has given President Trump’s former campaign adviser a part in the process.
The Infowars.com publisher plans to launch “basically a TV network” later this summer and has already picked longtime Republican strategist Roger Stone to host his own program, he announced Wednesday.
“Soon, it’s five nights a week with Roger Stone. You heard it here first folks,” Mr. Jones said during Wednesday’s episode of “The Alex Jones Show,” his popular internet and radio program.
Mr. Stone, 64, confirmed he’s in the works to accept a gig under the Infowars umbrella, the Austin Statesman reported Thursday. The former Trump adviser currently resides in Florida but is considering renting an apartment in Austin, Infowar’s home base, as Mr. Jones plans to expand operations, he told the newspaper.
Addressing his ambitions during Wednesday’s program, Mr. Jones said he’s constructing a new studio and securing distribution deals to bring his far-right, conspiracy laden talk show to television audiences in addition to internet viewers and radio listeners.
“We’re about to upgrade everything here in Austin, Texas. We’ve got a new, huge half million dollar studio going in, just the studio. Another quarter-million in equipment — that sounds like a lot but that’s cheap to build a TV studio,” Mr. Jones said.
“We’ve already got the satellites and some cable and some TV stations picking us up,” he added.
Frequent Infowars collaborators Mike Cernovich, David Knight and J. Owen Shroyer will host their own shows in addition to Mr. Stone, Mr. Jones said.
Mr. Jones currently reaches a monthly audience estimated to be in the millions through his Infowars website, YouTube channels and radio program, reportedly including the president himself. Mr. Trump appeared on “The Alex Jones” show in 2015, and Mr. Jones has since claimed to be communicating with White House insiders.
Though the president praised Mr. Jones during his campaign trail appearance (“Your reputation’s amazing,” Mr. Trump told him), others haven’t been as receptive to Mr. Jones’ reporting. In March, Mr. Jones retracted several articles and broadcasting involving the so-called “Pizzagate” conspiracy in the face of litigation, and in April he apologized after being sued for falsely linking the Chobani yogurt company to alleged “migrant rapists.”
Mr. Stone served as an adviser to Mr. Trump’s campaign until August 2015. He has since come under fire for contacts he had in 2016 with a Twitter user, Guccifer 2.0, involved in hacking Democratic targets prior to Mr. Trump’s election over rival candidate Hillary Clinton.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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