Alex Jones has been called America’s most popular conspiracist. Image by YouTube

Online conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has hired lawyers representing a founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer to defend him against defamation claims brought up in Connecticut by families of seven Sandy Hook victims, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which killed 20 children and six adults, Jones has spread theories that it was a hoax, claiming the families were “crisis actors” in a government plot to take down the Second Amendment. As a result, the families have endured online abuse, physical confrontations and death threats.

Marc Randazza and Jay Wolman of the Las Vegas-based Randazza Legal Group are defending Jones in Connecticut. The lawyers also represent Andrew Anglin, the co-founder of the Daily Stormer, who is being sued for harassment by a Montana woman after Daily Stormer followers berated her with anti-Semitic slurs and threats.

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Randazza has appeared on Jones’s InfoWars radio show and videos. He told the Times he acknowledged opinions by First Amendment lawyers not involved in the cases that the Sandy Hook families have a strong claim against Jones.

“We are going to be mounting a strong First Amendment defense and look forward to this being resolved in a civil and collegial manner,” he said, adding that Jones has “a great deal of compassion for these parents.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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