A state district judge Monday denied an emergency motion by Alex Jones’ ex-wife to secure custody of their daughters for the two weeks it would take to determine whether he contracted COVID-19 at a Saturday rally he led at the Capitol at which he was mobbed by unmasked supporters and declared the coronavirus "a hoax."

Jones is the host of the Austin-based conspiracy website InfoWars.

Austin attorney Tiffany Crouch Bartlett, who filed the motion late Sunday night on behalf of Kelly Jones, said she was disappointed but not surprised by the decision by state District Judge Lori Livingston because the judge had indicated at their last hearing on the Jones’ child custody arrangements, via Zoom on April 6, that she didn’t want to make any changes in custody until she can have a full trial or evidentiary hearing, hopefully when in-person court proceedings have resumed.

Bartlett’s motion asked Livingston to keep Jones from "exercising any physical possession of the children .... for at least the next fourteen days as Alex Jones has deliberately exposed himself to an estimated 300 people at a Texas Capitol rally which he organized on Saturday, April 18th, and during which he failed to use a mask, observe social distancing, or implement any safety measures to avoid infection during the Covid 19 pandemic — in blatant violation of local Travis County stay-at-home orders, and in violation of Texas and federal guidelines and recommendations."

Jones was happy to shake hands with his followers as he left the rally. pic.twitter.com/ArkGyOLSfZ

— Nick Wagner (@WagsPhoto) April 18, 2020

In reply, attorneys Randall Wilhite and David Minton, representing Alex Jones, responded that Jones was only at the rally for a brief period of time.

Wilhite and Minton write in their brief, in which Alex Jones is referred to as A.J. and Kelly Jones as K.R.J., that:

"As a member of the news media (which are exempt from the stay-at-home directives), on April 18, 2020, A.J. made a brief appearance at a rally at the State Capitol of Texas where about 300 people, wanting to go back to work, were peacefully protesting the stay-at-home orders. He entered the scene in a Humvee with a bull horn, sequestered from the protesters. He left the Humvee for 3-5 minutes surrounded by his security detail. DPS officers were present, spoke with A.J., allowed the protest to continue without interference, and made no arrests. But, when it became evident to A.J. that his security detail would not be able to fully insulate him from the crowd, he got back into his Humvee and left. Immediately afterwards, he took recommended basic precautions."

However, according to a Facebook Live video of the event by the American-Statesman, Jones was at the rally for at least 11 minutes. Jones spoke for four minutes to the rally, but it took him nearly six minutes to make his way back to the Humvee, followed by a throng of supporters and talking on his bullhorn, and he addressed his followers for another minute before the Humvee pulled away, and that does not include whatever time he spent getting from the Humvee to the south steps of the Capitol where he delivered his remarks.

’I cannot return them’

The Joneses’ two girls, ages 12 and 15, were spending the weekend with their mother and were due to return to their father’s home Sunday evening. But, in light of Saturday’s rally in defiance and opposition to state and local stay-at-home orders, at which Jones shook hands with supporters who swarmed around him, Kelly Jones texted her ex-husband mid-afternoon Sunday that, "I have a duty to protect the children, and I cannot return them to you."

But, in an affidavit filed with the court, Kelly Jones said that just before 6 p.m. Sunday, "I went to the kitchen to start dinner. I was in the kitchen for about two minutes. When I came out the children were gone. They texted me at 6:04 PM that they were at their dad’s (his home is around 10 minutes away from mine). Alex messaged me that he had picked them up."

Update: Heartbroken & incredibly worried, my attny called Alex's about the endangerment. I went into the kitchen for 2 minutes to start dinner, &Alex had lured the children from my home. Have called APD, filing emergency restraining order. Will post hearing link pls attend. https://t.co/fJVVHbiN5n

— Kelly Jones (@RealKellyJones) April 19, 2020

According to the reply from Jones’ attorneys, Kelly Jones had told her daughters that the amicus attorney in the case — appointed by the court to look out for the interests of the girls — had said they needed to stay with their mother, which Jones’ attorneys said was not true, and the girls, "desperately started to communicate with their Amicus Attorney and their father, separately pleading with each of them for help in leaving their mother’s residence to go back home.

"When the girls were not at the drop-off point as ordered by this Court, and in receipt of the anguished and distressed cries from his daughters, A.J. drove nearby to K.R.J.’s home, where he saw the girls outside of their home (about 1-2 blocks away from him). When they saw him, they ran to his car, got in and went home, which is where they are now."

Wilhite and Minton also write that, "The primary rationale for the stay-at-home orders was to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases so as to not overrun the hospitals dealing with a virus that generally only seriously affects older people with certain pre-existing conditions. The stay-at-home orders were not to primarily protect children from the virus, as indeed COVID-19 is generally harmless to them."

Alex Jones and Kelly Jones both live in Austin. The two girls live with Alex Jones most of the time, spending two hours every Thursday and every other weekend with their mother. The Joneses’ 17-year-old son lives exclusively with his father. Jones and his second wife, Erika Wulff Jones, who was by his side at Saturday’s rally, also have a 3-year-old.

Saturday rally

Jones, and Owen Shroyer, a host and reporter on InfoWars, promoted and were the main speakers at Saturday’s "You Can’t Close America Rally" on the south steps of the Capitol.

Jones, who arrived at the rally in his armored vehicle, described the pandemic as both a "Chi-Comm globalist bioweapons attack" — "Chi-Comm" refers to Chinese Communists — and a fabrication.

"America knows it’s a hoax," he said Saturday.

Most of the 300 people in attendance ignored local requirements to wear facemasks, and state and federal guidance to remain at least 6 feet apart from anyone not a member your own household.

#AlexJones and #Infowars tomorrow's news today. Nine weeks ago exposed the #ChiCom #COVID19 #BioWeapon . #Newswars #BannedVideo #PrisionPlanet #Infowarstore pic.twitter.com/fkcIDnLcOJ

— Michael Stewart (@Skrinkaman) April 17, 2020

Custody battle

Monday’s development is the latest chapter in legal skirmishing between Alex Jones and his ex-wife over custody of their children since their divorce in 2015.

They were awarded joint custody after a jury trial in 2017 and, for the first time since their divorce, Kelly Jones gained the right to have the two girls and their 17-year-old brother primarily live with her. But a series of orders by state District Judge Orlinda Naranjo, who presided over the trial, left the girls living most of their time, and the boy, all of his time, with their father.

At a pretrial hearing before the 2017 trial, attorney Randall Wilhite told Naranjo that using Alex Jones’ on-air InfoWars’ persona to evaluate Alex Jones as a father would be like judging Jack Nicholson in a custody dispute based on his performance as the Joker in "Batman."

"He’s playing a character," Wilhite said of Jones. "He is a performance artist."

But Jones repudiated that strategy, and his willingness to expose himself to infection at Saturday’s rally would seem to confirm that he is not simply "playing a character."

Drunken driving

In early March, Kelly had filed another emergency motion with Livingston seeking to remove her two daughters from her husband’s home immediately after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated, though his blood alcohol level, in two breathalyzer tests, was just below the legal limit.

That motion noted that Erika Wulff Jones was also arrested for driving while intoxicated in August. Her blood alcohol level in her preliminary breath test far exceeded the legal limit, according to the police affidavit in the case.

In both cases, the arrests resulted from one spouse calling police about the other.

That hearing came on the eve of spring break, which the girls spent with Kelly Jones, before returning to their father’s home. Livingston also ordered that Alex Jones not drink when he has custody of the girls, or have alcohol in the house.

Jones also is the defendant in four lawsuits — for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress — filed in Austin by the parents of some of the children killed in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012. Jones and InfoWars repeatedly depicted the massacre as a hoax.