Donald Trump media ally Alex Jones said “sources close to the president” told him that White House press secretary Sean Spicer will be fired within a week and that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus will be fired sometime in the near future. Jones’ website claims Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle “is currently the favorite to replace” Spicer.
During the May 11 broadcast of The Alex Jones Show, Jones said, “Now I have some sources close to the president, and we’ve talked to those sources yesterday and this morning, and we know who the next shoes to drop are going to be -- and that’s going to be Sean Spicer, the press secretary. Reportedly he’s going to be axed in the next week. … And then he’s looking for a replacement of Reince Priebus right now.”
An article by editor Paul Joseph Watson at Jones’ website Infowars.com initially reported that “White House sources tell Infowars that Sean Spicer is set to be fired as President Trump begins a purge of establishment advisers who he feels have failed to properly investigate leaks coming from within the administration.”
The article also stated that “Infowars can reveal that Spicer will be gone by next week and that former prosecutor and current Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was previously considered for the role, is currently the favorite to replace him.”
Later during the broadcast, Jones said a different White House source called him and took issue with the Infowars article. Jones said that he stood by the story but would clarify the piece to make it clear he is saying Spicer will be fired as opposed to suggesting -- as the original headline had -- that Spicer had already been fired. The article's text has since been softened after that reported White House call.
Jones is a toxic conspiracy theorist who has claimed that the United States government perpetrated the 9/11 attacks and the tragedies at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Oklahoma City, and the Boston Marathon, among others
He routinely claims to be in touch with White House officials. For example, after Trump ordered a military strike against Syria in April, Jones said that he “talked to folks very close to the president” about the United States’ policy concerning intervention in the Syrian civil war.
Jones also claims to speak with Trump regularly. In a video Jones released in February, he touted his connections to the president, saying that he regretted having “missed” Trump’s phone calls, and claimed that Trump “or his sons” watch his videos and show “every night.” He has also said that Trump calls him to ask if he’s “happy” with his performance as president.
Trump appeared on Jones’ show in December 2015 when he was running for president and praised Jones’ “amazing” reputation. During the campaign, Jones claimed that he talked to Trump to give him political advice.
Jones has been a harsh critic of Priebus. After he was named chief of staff in November, Jones said, “I would give Donald Trump about a 99 performance rate right now. Appointing Reince Priebus, the head of the Republican Party, who stabbed him in the back over and over again? I don’t like it” and called Priebus a “RINO neocon galactic-level weasel.”
Jones has also accused Priebus of trying to “sabotage” Trump’s agenda and has called his hiring a “mistake.”