Alex Jones, the conspiracy-theorizing host of the Infowars website whose controversial interview with NBC’s Megyn Kelly is set to air Sunday night, has fallen back to the argument of every disgruntled interviewee: “They took me out of context.” 
 
 Except in this case, Jones may cause serious trouble for Kelly, who he apparently took the precaution of covertly taping in pre-interview calls and, he claims, the interview itself, which he is now publicizing on Infowars and his YouTube channel. And in those clandestine clips, the former Fox News host appears to promise to go easy on him in the interview. 
 
 In one 30-minute video Jones published that included extensive audio of a pre-interview call with Kelly, the new NBC hire appeared to promise the interview would be a softball personality piece. 
 
 “My goal is for your listeners and the left—you know, who will be watching some on NBC—to say, ‘Wow, that’s really interesting,” the voice that appears to be Kelly says. “It’s not going to be some gotcha hit piece, I promise you that.” 
 
 The thrust of Jones’ overall argument seems to be that he did not definitively claim the Sandy Hook shooting was a fraud, but instead says he merely “wargamed” a number of scenarios, one of which was that “actors” were used to mock up a massacre. In the past, Jones has repeatedly claimed that the elementary-school mass shooting was a “hoax,” along with his wacky beliefs that the U.S. government is behind the 9/11 terror attacks, is spreading chemicals to turn people gay, and that Hillary Clinton is a space alien from another planet. 
 
 As distasteful and cynical as many may feel Jones’ argument to be, there is no doubt that the recording of a pre-interview call with Kelly, an edited version of which Jones published Friday on his YouTube channel, will heap further trouble and pressure on the NBC host. 
 
 In the recording of the call, Jones does state, of the Sandy Hook killings, “In hindsight I think it probably did happen,” and at another point he says, “I have had debates where I showed both sides. I believe people died there.” 
 
 Jones then cuts in footage of the promo released by NBC News in which Kelly probes him about his claims that the massacre was fake, and he replies by talking about the casualties of America’s foreign wars, and Kelly tells him he is “dodging” the question. 
 
 Jones on Thursday night promised to release a full unedited series of recordings of the NBC interview, which he says ran from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., saying he secretly recorded the controversial sit-down because he “knew it was all crap,” and that he would be misrepresented. 
 
 “I’ve never done this in 22 years. I’ve never recorded another journalist, but I knew it was a fraud, that it was a lie,” Jones said in a teaser video, recalling how Kelly approached him about the interview. 
 
 “God, she was like, ‘I want to get steaks with you, I’m obsessed with you, oh my God,’ wiggling around in her seat. It was all crap,” he alleged. “I knew it was all a lie. I said, ‘Sandy Hook happened,’ and she wouldn’t even put it in the promo pieces. So we’re going to release, oh yeah, we’re going to release the pre-interview. And then when they put their fraud out on Sunday—which I’ve asked them not to air because they’re misrepresenting who I am and saying I’m as bad as Saddam Hussein, or Jeffrey Dahmer, or Charles Manson—we’ve got the whole interview here… We’ve got it all… It’s all going to come out.” 
 
 “In the past NBC could manipulate and lie, they were the gods,” Jones says. “Megyn Kelly waltzed in here and told me she was going to do a softball interview with Alex Jones… she did the opposite of what she said. We were recording the whole time. These tyrants haven’t figured it out yet, that information warfare is a two-way street.” 
 
 Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily Digest Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking “Subscribe,” you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason. 
 
 Early Friday, an NBC News spokesperson told The Daily Beast: “Despite Alex Jones’ efforts to distract from and ultimately prevent the airing of our report, we remain committed to giving viewers context and insight into a controversial and polarizing figure, how he relates to the president of the United States and influences others, and to getting this serious story right. Tune in Sunday.” 
 
 While it is common practice for journalists to engage in a bit of sweet talk to land a big interview, some of the gushing audio Jones has recorded will be humiliating for Kelly. 
 
 At one stage she says: “The reason you are interesting to me is because I followed your custody case and I think you had a very good point about the way the media was covering it. And for some reason they treated you and your family as fair game, and they never would have done that [to a] mainstream-media figure. 
 
 “I saw a different side of you and you became very fascinating to me. Your comments during the trial just reminded me you are just like anybody and I thought that would be an interesting story to tell.” 
 
 It is Jones who brings up the issue of Sandy Hook, and Kelly replies, “I can ask you about that.” 
 
 Kelly later says: “It really will be about who is that guy. I’ll ask you about some of the controversy and I‘ll ask you and you can respond… If there’s one thing about me, I do what I say I am gonna do. I don’t double-cross.” 
 
 At another point she says, “I’m not looking to portray you as some kind of boogeyman. The craziest thing of all would be if some people who have this insane version of you in their heads came away saying, ‘You know what? I see the dad in him. I see the guy who loves those kids and is more complex than we have been led to believe.’” 
 
 Probably the most awkward clip for Kelly will be when she tells Jones: “I will personally promise to look at any clips we want to use of you, and have a producer run by you, whether we are taking it in context, what you are saying.” 
 
 Jones at another point claims that some of his work is “satire.” 
 
 In another section Kelly says: “I’ll give you the chance to respond, I really just want to talk about you. You. Take the measure of the man. This is your chance to tell people who you are.” 
 
 Kelly also promises Jones: “If I ask you about any controversy, you’ll have the chance to address it fully. We won’t cut you in a way that is going to take out the heart of your explanation or the real substance of it.” ||||| Megyn Kelly has completely overhauled her Sunday night show featuring Alex Jones, inviting Sandy Hook families on the program and editing her interview with Jones to be tougher on him, following all the backlash this week. 
 
 NBC News execs were scrambling following the furor over Kelly’s decision to give a platform to the controversial Infowars host, who claimed the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. 
 
 A contrite Kelly personally called the Sandy Hook families, we’re told, to invite them on the show to counter Jones’ rhetoric. 
 
 A source told us, “NBC was scrambling to find a way out of this mess without having to back down and cancel Sunday’s episode of Megyn’s show. Megyn and her producers made numerous calls to the Sandy Hook families this week to ask them to appear on the show. Some refused because they didn’t think appearing on her show would do enough to counter Alex Jones’ venom.” 
 
 Another source added, “Everyone on the show believes it’s vitally important that the piece conveys the immense pain that Jones has caused the Sandy Hook families.” The source added it was normal to be editing right up until airtime. 
 
 Page Six has learned that Neil Heslin, the father of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., has agreed to be interviewed on Kelly’s show. In 2013, he appeared at a Senate committee hearing and pleaded with senators to ban assault weapons such as the gun that killed his son. 
 
 Reps for NBC and Kelly didn’t comment on Thursday night. 
 
 Even Jones himself thinks the piece will be deliberately cut to make him look crazy. 
 
 He spent 13 hours with Kelly, but says he expects producers to pick the parts that make him look bad, to prove to Kelly’s critics that she is a serious journalist. 
 
 Jones now doesn’t want the piece to air because “from the promos NBC has run, Megyn is distorting me,” Jones told The Hollywood Reporter. “It has all the markings of a PR stunt.” He added, “They just want me to be the devil because I’m the alternative media … Fake news lives at NBC. They basically made me look like a Halloween character.” ||||| Tweet with a location 
 
 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Secretly taped audio of Jones' pre-interview with Kelly was released Thursday ahead of the official interview airing Sunday. 
 
 Infowars host Alex Jones is taking new measures to set things straight about his interview with NBC News' Megyn Kelly, which is set to air Sunday. 
 
 On Thursday night, Jones leaked audio of what he says was his private, pre-interview conversation with Kelly online to clarify what he referred to as "misrepresenting" him in the official interview. 
 
 "I've never done this in 22 years, I've never recorded another journalist," Jones said in a video posted to Twitter, teasing the leak. "I've never done this, but I knew that it was a fraud, that it was a lie." 
 
 In the audio, Kelly is heard saying, "This is not going to be a contentious, sort of 'gotcha' exchange." Then in a preview of the televised footage, Jones is seen talking with Kelly about the 2012 Newtown, Conn., shooting, with Jones calling Kelly "an anti-gunner." 
 
 The host also called out the "mainstream media," including The Hollywood Reporter, for its recent coverage of his sit-down with Kelly. Jones claimed that his words were taken out of context and heavily edited in promo clips for the interview. "I got it all on tape, sweetheart," he said during Thursday's Infowars show. "I did it to protect myself so I can show what she really did." 
 
 "What are they going to do, when I've got the tapes of what really happened?" Jones added, saying that Kelly acted like she was "obsessed with him." "It was worse than in college in a topless bar when women try to get you to pay for a dance." 
 
 Kelly has received backlash from the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for choosing to broadcast her interview with Jones. On Tuesday, an anti-gun violence organization founded by parents of children killed in the 2012 shooting dropped Kelly as host of an event in Washington. 
 
 "Our goal in sitting down with him was to shine a light, as journalists are supposed to do, on this influential figure and, yes, to discuss the considerable falsehoods he has promoted with near impunity," Kelly has said about her decision to feature Jones. 
 
 CNN chief Jeff Zucker said Thursday that marketing for Kelly's sit-down with Jones has been "unfortunate." 
 
 "I think the issue here is the way that they have thus far presented it has not led to the belief that he's held to account as much as somebody who spews such hatred and nonsense needs to be," he continued. "If you're going to do this story, the tease needs to be you holding up a picture of the dead kids at Sandy Hook and saying, 'How dare you?' And I think their marketing of this has thus far been unfortunate." 
 
 On Friday morning, NBC News said it planned to move forward with the televised interview. 
 
 "Despite Alex Jones' efforts to distract from and ultimately prevent the airing of our report, we remain committed to giving viewers context and insight into a controversial and polarizing figure, how he relates to the president of the United States and influences others, and to getting this serious story right," said an NBC News spokesperson. Adding, "Tune in Sunday."
– Megyn Kelly might now be wishing she listened to critics of her controversial choice to interview conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Claiming his comments were taken "out of context" in promos for the NBC interview airing Sunday, Jones has begun releasing what he says is secretly-recorded audio of his conversations with Kelly. As the Daily Beast puts it, some snippets "will be humiliating for Kelly." In one apparent recording of a pre-interview conversation, Kelly can be heard telling Jones, "It's not going to be some gotcha hit piece, I can promise you that." At another point when referring to Jones' custody battle, she says the media "treated you and your family as fair game, and they never would have done that [to a] mainstream-media figure." Jones claims Kelly promised to deliver a "softball profile." But "I knew that it was a fraud, that it was a lie," he says, per the Hollywood Reporter. He refers specifically to a promo in which Kelly accuses Jones of "dodging" a question about the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones, who previously claimed the shooting was a hoax, says he admitted it happened but that Kelly purposely omitted the comment. In the recording, Kelly promises she won't take Jones' comments out of context. She even says he can review all interview clips to see "whether we are taking it in context, what you are saying." Given the backlash to the interview, Page Six reports Kelly has asked families of Sandy Hook victims to appear; one father has agreed to appear.