AUSTIN, Texas — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wants a Texas judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against him by families of some of the children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A hearing Wednesday in Austin is the first of two this week involving the Infowars host.

Jones was sued after repeatedly claiming on his Austin-based show that the Connecticut shooting was a hoax.

The shooting killed 20 children and six adults, and it left a lasting mark on the way America thinks about school safety. It helped usher in an era of "active shooter drills" and difficult conversations about safety for even the youngest kids.

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Jones now admits the shooting occurred, but says his claims were free speech.

A similar lawsuit was filed in Connecticut. He's also being sued by a man falsely identified on the Infowars website as the gunman who killed 17 people at a Florida high school in February.

Jones' profile has spread from the far-right fringe in recent years. While running for president in 2015, Donald Trump told Jones his reputation was "amazing."

Recently, Jones made a baseless claim that Democrats would launch a civil war on July 4. That inspired a viral #SecondCivilWarLetters social media movement of users mocking the idea.