By DANIEL CHAITIN
Washington Examiner

Infowars apologized on Friday for its role in perpetuating the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory that connected a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant to a child sex ring run by Hillary Clinton.

Talk show host Alex Jones, an avid Trump supporter who runs the site, went on air to read a statement where he personally apologized to James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, which was repeatedly harassed and threatened for its alleged connection to Pizzagate. It was at that restaurant in December that a man from North Carolina walked in and fired a rifle as he looked for evidence supporting the conspiracy theory that there were underground tunnels through which children were trafficked.

“In our commentary about what had become known as Pizzagate, I made comments about Mr. Alefantis that in hindsight I regret, and for which I apologize to him,” Jones said. The apology came on the same day that Edgar Madison Welch, 28, pleaded guilty to the federal charge of interstate transport of firearms and a local charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Jones stressed that Infowars was not alone, but became a part of a national conversation about the conspiracy theory that began after some social media users became suspicious of the multiple mentions of pizza and other suspicious words in the WikiLeaks dumps of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails. Jones repeatedly implicated other media for driving the conversation about Pizzagate.

“We relied on third party accounts of alleged activities and conduct at the restaurant. We also relied on accounts of reporters who are no longer with us,” Jones said. “This was an ever-evolving story, which had a huge amount of commentary about it across many media outlets.”

This wasn’t the first time Jones has walked back earlier coverage of Pizzagate, which at times became rather graphic. In a segment last year in which he talked about Pizzagate, Jones asserted, “Hillary Clinton has personally murdered children.”

Jones said Alefantis had reached out to Infowars asking to retract certain statements, and that videos and radio segments in which Pizzagate was mentioned were taken down even before that.

“If Mr. Alefantis has other objections, we invite him to let us know,” Jones said, inviting Alefantis to appear on his program.

“In issuing this statement, we are not admitting that Mr. Alefantis, or his restaurant, have any legal claim. We do not believe they do,” Jones said. “But we are issuing this statement because we think it is the right thing to do. It will be no surprise to you that we will fight for children across America. But the Pizzagate narrative, as least as concerning Mr. Alefantis and Comet Ping Pong, we have subsequently determined was based upon what we now believe was an incorrect narrative.”

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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/infowars-apologizes-for-pizzagate-coverage/article/2618409