Alex Jones, the right-wing radio show host who frequently promotes conspiracy theories, was arrested Tuesday morning by the Travis County Sheriff's Office in Texas for driving while intoxicated, authorities have said.
CBS Austin initially reported the news. It said he had been released by 4 a.m. on $3,000 bond.
Jones has denied that he was drunk. On his site, InfoWars, an article claimed he had been cleared of the charge by blowing less than .08 on a breathalyzer, but this claim has not been verified. The article claimed Jones was caught in a "countywide dragnet," citing "police sources."
Jones said he had been "drinking a small amount of sake at a Japanese restaurant." The article also said he had been driving 45 mph in a 40 mph zone, though again, this is unverified.
Many jurisdictions have a two-fold requirement for a DWI charge: driving while above the legal blood-alcohol limit, or being impaired while driving. Drivers can still be impaired by alcohol in their system even if it falls below the legal limit and can thus be found guilty on DWI charges.
"It was quite the experience to see what was going on in this country and to experience it myself," Jones said of his experience on the radio show.
The Daily Beast noted:
This isn't the first time Jones has been linked to alcohol and driving. In a December New York Times story, a former InfoWars staffer described Jones driving while drinking out of a Dixie cup that had the "smell of vodka, like paint thinner" in 2016.
As the head of InfoWars, Jones is facing multiple lawsuits from families who lost children in the 2012 Sandy Hook after claiming that the mass shooting was a hoax.
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