Right-wing broadcaster Alex Jones broke from former President Donald Trump over his call for supporters to protest if he gets indicted in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation of a hush money payment made during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump over the weekend took to his social media platform Truth Social to write that he believed he would be arrested on Tuesday. The District Attorney’s Office is probing whether Trump violated campaign finance law in the $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime attorney, in 2018 pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in the probe.
The former president urged his supporters to “PROTEST” and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK” in the Truth Social post. He has denied any wrongdoing and has accused prosecutors of engaging in a politically motivated witch hunt.
His protest call unsurprisingly drew widespread criticism from Trump’s critics, but Jones, a longtime Trump supporter known for his Infowars show, also voiced disagreement with his post. Jones has faced his own legal woes in defamation cases surrounding his false statements that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was staged.
Jones’ criticism came during a discussion about the potential indictment with conservative influencer Steven Crowder on Tuesday. He said that while Trump had the “right” to call for protests, his wording could have been “better.”
He compared Trump’s call to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building in a failed effort to block President Joe Biden‘s Electoral College certification.
Jones, who has defended the January 6 rioters, questioned why Trump would call for protests, given that his backers have faced legal consequences over the riot.
“You could see then how some people will think, ‘Take the country back,’ and then some provocateurs do something, they could point right at Trump and say, ‘See. He basically pushed them to do this,” Jones said.
“It does look like he’s trying to use the public to push right up to the edge, and I think in this … volatile situation we’re in, we don’t need to be like antifa.”
Jones added that there may eventually be a time when conservatives need to “get physical,” but that they should “exhaust all the remedies first.”
“If you’re filling up your tractor with gasoline and it’s your farm, do you have a right to light a cigarette while you’re doing it? Yes, but it’s probably something you shouldn’t do,” Jones said. “And he’s basically lighting up a cigarette while he’s playing with gasoline.”
Trump had not been arrested by the end of the business day Tuesday, and prosecutors have not confirmed plans to arrest him in what would be a historic prosecution of a former president.
Photos and videos emerged on social media showing some Trump supporters protesting in Manhattan on Tuesday, though the demonstrations did not appear to be widespread.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told Newsweek earlier Tuesday that “we haven’t been informed” about any possible indictment, but next week “looks like the way it will be” regarding a potential arraignment.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
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