The messages were delivered to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week .
Bankston would only tell CNN that he is “cooperating with the committee.” The select committee declined to comment.
During the trial, Bankston revealed that one of Jones’ lawyers had “made a mistake” and inadvertently sent her the two years of text messages. Bankston also said during the trial that the Jan. 6 committee had expressed interest in the material.
Jones’ attorney, Federico Andino Reynal, asked the judge in the case to order Bankston to destroy the material and not forward it to the House committee, but the judge declined.
“I’m not between you and Congress,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Bankston when asked about sending Jones’ texts to the committee. “That’s not my job. I’m not going to do that.”
The source did not provide details of the exact time frame when Jones sent and received the texts in question.
Bankston previously said the most recent message on the phone was from mid-2020, months before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Most of the people Jones texted were his employees and family members, the person familiar with the matter said.
But, the person familiar with the matter added, some of the text messages indicate Jones was in contact with Trump allies.
Jones was a center fielder on January 6. He was on restricted grounds at the U.S. Capitol that day, irritating protesters, though he did not enter the building itself. He has rejected any suggestion he was involved in planning the violence and claims he tried to prevent people in the Capitol from breaking the law.
Jones testified before the committee on Jan. 6 earlier this year, but later told his show that he repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during the closed-door deposition.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who serves on the committee, told CNN Sunday that the committee was still waiting to see the texts and was interested in learning more about Jones’ role in the events at the Capitol.
“Well, we know that his behavior incentivized some of the conduct on Jan. 6, and we want to know more about that,” Lofgren said. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look and learn more, I’m sure.”
It was unclear whether the Justice Department had received the texts as of Monday afternoon. The Justice Department declined to comment.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Sara Murray and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
