Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, associates of his media operation Infowars, and other far-right activists are traveling to the nation’s capital this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. They’re also sponsoring separate right-wing events in the Washington, D.C., region, including one featuring former Republican U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart of Virginia, according to the event’s registration page.
Stewart’s Senate candidacy drew criticism for its ties to right-wing extremists, so much so that the National Republican Senatorial Committee decided not to invest in his 2018 campaign. Stewart was the Virginia state chair of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and received Trump’s endorsement for his 2018 bid for Congress. He was previously set to appear at a similarly fringe-right event in 2018 but withdrew after our reporting.
Jones announced on his Sunday Infowars broadcast that he planned to travel to CPAC and that his company had sponsored two other events hosted by National File, a right-wing media outlet led by the operator of a popular pro-Trump Facebook page called God Emperor Trump. National File will host two events featuring Jones and like-minded speakers: an “Emergency Save the First Amendment Summit” in Washington Wednesday, where Stewart is set to appear, and a separate reception near the CPAC venue in Maryland Thursday.
“I decided about a week ago to go to CPAC, the big conservative action committee deal, because it's mainly neocon-run, but you know five years ago, the first year of the campaign—Trump was campaigning a year and a half—they didn’t want Trump there, so I don’t care about being invited to get on a stage and speak to CPAC. But I decided, as I told you, this year, with 253 days left, I’m going to go to every event I can,” Jones said.
When reached via direct message on Twitter, Infowars host Owen Shroyer, who is scheduled to speak alongside Jones at the Washington event, said that he had a ticket to attend CPAC but that Infowars was not given media credentials for the conference.
On Wednesday night, Jones will speak at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington alongside writers from National File, employees of Infowars, failed anti-immigrant political candidate Peter D’Abrosca, former Republican Senate candidate Stewart, Proud Boys hate group founder Gavin McInnes, and the Proud Boys’ current leader Enrique Tarrio, according to an event listing. The next day, Jones and associates will speak at a reception near CPAC that will also host anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer.
Tom Pappert, who leads National File, said on Infowars Sunday that the events were not meant to compete with CPAC or the event that white nationalist “groypers” are hosting this week. Jones agreed, adding that the events were meant to get Trump’s attention.
Right Wing Watch sent an inquiry to the Keeping America Great PAC, of which Stewart acts as a director, regarding Stewart’s advertised appearance and did not receive an immediate response.
