National File was founded in August 2019[4]byfar-right figure and conspiracy theoristAlex Jones.[1][2] Leaked texts from Jones's phone indicated that he started National File to promote content from his InfoWars website while obscuring its origin to evade an InfoWars ban on Facebook, and to set up a business vehicle for his son Rex.[1]
Its editor-in-chief and owner is Tom Pappert.[4][14]Patrick Howley is a politics reporter for the website.[15]
On January 14, 2020, National File reiterated a story from trade publication Tri-State Livestock News,[19] wherein South Dakota cattle veterinarian James Stangle falsely claims that Impossible Whoppers contain "44 mg of estrogen" and that "six glasses of soy milk per day has enough estrogen to grow boobs on a male."[19] Stangle later retracted this story as, in fact, he was referring to isoflavones, not estrogen; Impossible Whoppers contain 2 mg of isoflavones, not 44; and – as of 2021[update] – there is no evidence showing a link between isoflavones and feminization or childhood development,[20][21] and there is evidence to the contrary.[22][23]
On October 23, 2020, National File published photos they claimed showed Mark Kelly, at the time a candidate in the 2020 special election in Arizona, at a college party in 1985 dressed as Adolf Hitler.[6][16] Several classmates of Kelly's stated that he was not the man in the photo,[5] and PolitiFact rated the National File story "false".[18] Kelly filed a defamation lawsuit against National File on October 26.[16]
On October 26, 2020, National File published what it claimed to be the contents of a diary by Ashley Biden, a daughter of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. The diary had been sold to Project Veritas, a far-right activist group, whose founder said the diary's authenticity could not be confirmed.[25][26]
On February 27, 2022, two days before the Texas Republican primaryrunoff election, National File posted audio of an interview with former jihadistTania Joya, a British woman then living in Plano, Texas, who said that she and Van Taylor—U.S. representative for Plano and primary candidate—had a nine-month sexual affair in 2020 and 2021. Joya shared salacious details about the affair and said that Taylor had given her US$5,000 for personal expenses. Her statements circulated widely on social media, prompting Taylor to admit to an extramarital affair and end his reelection campaign, effectively ceding the primary to Republican runner-up Keith Self.[27] Taylor was one of the few Republican U.S. representatives to join Democrats in voting to establish the January 6 commission to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol, a vote that caused him to be intensely criticized by primary election opponents and conservative commentators, despite his conservative voting record on other issues.[27][28]
^ abcSquire, Megan; Hayden, Michael Edison (March 8, 2023). "'Absolutely Bonkers': Inside Infowars' Money Machine". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023. Jones' text messages suggest Jones and his collaborators sought to launder his Infowars content to social media sites that had banned it, while disguising its true origin. For example, the texts reveal that Jones created the junk-news website National File.
^ abBarr, Kyle (March 17, 2023). "Alex Jones' Alleged Secret Site Gets Around Social Media Bans". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023. In leaked texts shared earlier this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center between him and well-known Republican operative Roger Stone in 2020, Jones said "off record this is my site" in relation to National File.
