The Jan. 6 committee has possession of two years of text messages from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, according to a report Monday from CNN. The messages were recently revealed during a defamation case brought against Jones over his comments that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax.

Mark Bankston, the lawyer for Sandy Hook parents Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, reportedly turned over the text messages to the committee after the civil trial against Jones concluded last week.

A jury in Austin, Texas, had ordered Jones to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages.

Bankston got the text, he said, because one of Jones' lawyers "messed up" and accidentally sent them to him. Jones' lawyers initially said the court should order Bankston to destroy the text messages. However, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble declined, saying that was not her job.

Gamble told Bankston she would not "stand between you and Congress."

She also denied Jones' request for a mistrial because of the mistakenly sent text messages. The committee and the Justice Department have not confirmed whether they saw the text messages.

Once Bankston said he had the texts, the committee expressed it was eager to see them. Bankston previously said in court that he intended to send the committee Jones' texts.

Jones was present for the Jan. 6 insurrection, but he never entered the Capitol. He also formerly testified in January after receiving a subpoena in November from the committee. During the closed-door deposition, he said he frequently asserted his Fifth Amendment rights.

The Jan. 6 committee had reportedly wanted to subpoena the communications of Jones' text messages to learn more about his role on Jan. 6.

Jones reportedly exchanged intimate messages with Roger Stone, a long-time adviser to former President Donald Trump. Stone has publicly asked for donations from Infowars viewers to help pay for Jones' defamation damages.

Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas, U.S., August 3, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via
Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas, U.S., August 3, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via Reuters / POOL