AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission has shut down a pirate radio station that served as the flagship outlet for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The Austin American-Statesman reports the FCC also has fined the station’s operators $15,000 — a fine the FCC says in a lawsuit the operators are refusing to pay.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin alleges Liberty Radio operated on a channel without a license since at least 2013. The lawsuit names as defendants Walter Olenick and M. Rae Nadler-Olenick.
Court documents show the FCC had tracked the transmissions to a 50-foot tower at an Austin apartment complex owned by an entity linked to the Olenicks.
A message left with the Olenicks wasn’t returned. According to a letter the FCC entered as an exhibit in its lawsuit, the Olenicks refused to pay the fine or recognize the FCC’s authority, saying they would regard its agents as trespassers should they return.
According to a message on the outlet’s website, Liberty Radio stopped airing in December but continues streaming online.
Jones has faced troubles in recent months, most notably a defamation lawsuit arising from his false claim on his Austin-based “Infowars” program that the parents of one of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre were perpetuating the massacre story as a hoax.
Most social media platforms have banned Jones from their channels for violating their prohibitions of hate speech. His program also has been removed from the music streaming services Spotify.
I guess he’ll need to move to Tijuana and blast southern California with a phased array radio broadcast. I wonder how well he’ll do in Mexico?
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump is heaping praise on a radio host who has asserted that the U.S. government was involved in the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down," Trump told Alex Jones during a Wednesday afternoon appearance on the Infowars.com proprietor’s show.
Jones shared the love, telling Trump that “my audience, 90% of them, they support you.”
Jones, who has advanced a number of conspiracy theories, gained prominence as a 9/11 “truther.”
He has previously asserted on his radio show that there is a "98% chance this was a government-orchestrated controlled bombing.
In October, he said on a show that “there is a cover-up,” and then highlighted Trump’s recent criticism of George W. Bush’s handling of 9/11.
Trump has disputed most officials’ characterizations of 9/11 too in recent days, arguing that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the attacks. The real estate mogul and Republican presidential front-runner tweeted a link to an Infowars.com post supporting his claims.
I hope that Sandy Hook family and others he’s defamed/lied to take away so much of his revenue that he’s forced to live under a bridge like the troll he is! Maybe the Trump family can join him there and they can all eat each other alive.
Welp, we all know how this is going to go down. Federal raid met with armed resistance, a weeks-long stand-off ended by Republican “negotiators,” capped off by pardons for everyone by President Trump.
Who am I kidding? Trump will stop the raid before it happens and praise the “great and wonderful Liberty Radio” in his base rallies.
For a second I thought you were projecting the scene after Mueller presents Trump with a subpoena to testify before a grand jury.