This Week in Misinformation: Donald Trump Investigated, Steve Bannon Convicted, Alex Jones on Trial
28 July 2022
This Prism newsletter strives to be the paper of record for all that’s happening in misinformation in the United States. For any citizen whose life is impacted by misinformation, it helps you see how storylines evolve from multiple, sourced angles on important stories in one place. For amateur and professional misinformation watchers, it is your go-to resource for updates on peers, platforms, propagandists, and politicians. Learn more about Prism and our other products on our Substack page, follow us on Twitter, or like us on Facebook!
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Now, on to our top stories.
It appears that the Department of Justice is looking into Trump’s actions with respect to January 6th.
Some hard evidence strongly suggesting this is happening: Pence’s former chief of staff appeared before a grand jury (ABC News, 46.80) and Cassidy Hutchinson is cooperating with a Justice investigation (The Hill, 43.59).
What’s been reported by way of context: the ongoing DoJ probe into January 6th expanded a few weeks ago, maybe before the first House Committee hearings, to encompass communications of Trump’s allies (CBS News, 46.07). The New York Times (42.96) and Washington Post (40.02) also both came out with scoops about how Justice has been going harder after the people involved in the fake electors plot. Related: Merrick Garland says DOJ won't rule out prosecuting Trump (Axios, 44.37)
The Committee is still rolling along with witnesses including onetime White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (CBS News, 46.07) and maybe Ginni Thomas (Washington Post, 40.02). Representative Jamie Raskin said so many Trump aides were now willingly testifying that it amounted to a ‘waterfall of truth’ (@ChrisJansing via Twitter), and others on the panel have revealed it will be sending at least 20 witness transcripts to the DoJ (Politico, 42.74). Federal prosecutors are also actively pursuing forced depositions about January 6th with former Trump White House officials (CNN, 42.40).
Steve Bannon was found guilty on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for stonewalling the January 6th Committee.
Radio show guy--and once Trump’s top strategist--Bannon was convicted by a jury of flatly refusing to produce documents and testimony the Committee subpoenaed him for last year (Washington Post, 40.02). His claims of executive privilege did not, um, land.
Bannon didn’t say anything in his defense under oath inside the courtroom, but he opted to vent a bit on the steps outside (CNN, 42.40). Nonetheless, the judge denied his motion for acquittal (New York Post, 32.68), so it looks like we’ll see in October how he is sentenced. Maximum is one year in prison for each of the two counts.
Some others who did badly related to January 6th also finally faced consequences, namely the guilty plea entered by a guy who calls himself "Baked Alaska" (Associated Press, 48.78) and the ethics complaints facing the election truther whom Trump wanted to put in charge of the Department of Justice on January 4th (New York Times, 42.96).
Separately in court, and it’s also going badly, was Alex Jones for his defamation of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, about which he conspiracized extensively.
The parents of the children who were murdered at Sandy Hook are suing Jones for his lies about the event being a “false flag” (New York Times, 42.96).
Jones makes a pretty good racket from his conspiracy theory content on InfoWars (13.62) and general persona as host of its flagship program (6.67) (New York Times, 42.96), essentially all of which he stands to lose (VICE, 41.61) if the court forces him to pay damages to the Sandy Hook families (USA Today, 45.12).
Nothing like a tasty grab bag on a Friday morning: stick a fork in disinfo network OAN (13.17), it's done; Brookings Institution says misinformation is eroding the public’s confidence in democracy (duh); the Director of the CIA debunks rumors about Putin's health; Facebook wants to not prevent COVID misinformation from spreading; 2020 truthers are working on getting county sheriffs on their side; incorrect beliefs about past elections pose a threat to upcoming ones; conspiracy theories are probably to blame for the destruction of that Georgia monolith thing; the heat wave isn’t making the climate disinformation problem any better; a real but allegedly fake video of President Biden goes viral; and Donalt Trump does a 9/11 trutherism on ESPN.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin