US Justice Department official ordered to drop inquiry into Sandy Hook lawsuit against Alex Jones

By DAVE COLLINS and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has ordered a senior U.S. Justice Department official to drop an inquiry into a retired FBI agent’s involvement in a defamation lawsuit involving Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

Ed Martin Jr. , who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” sent a letter dated Sept. 15 to the Sandy Hook families’ lawyer asking for information about former FBI agent William Aldenberg, who responded to the 2012 school shooting and was a plaintiff in the lawsuit, along with victims’ relatives, that led to a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones for calling the massacre a hoax.

Martin’s letter suggested that