Art Acevedo, Former Austin and Miami Police Chief Who Made Appearances on InfoWars, Joins CNN

Jackson RichmanDec 29th, 2021, 4:46 pm
 

Art Acevedo on CNN

Art Acevedo, the former chief of the Houston, Austin, and Miami police departments who made appearances on the far-right InfoWars show hosted by Alex Jones, has joined CNN as a law enforcement analyst.

Acevedo made his first appearance in his new role on Dec. 14 on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

The Austin American-Statesman reported in Sept. 2016, when Acevedo was the chief of police in the city, that he “meets regularly with Jones to give his views on issues from a police perspective and dozens of videos of their conversations have been uploaded to YouTube.” Those videos have since been removed as YouTube banned InfoWars in 2018, citing violations of their standards against hate speech and inciting violence. Jones has been sued multiple times for defamation, including by parents of the victims of the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Acevedo himself tweeted that it was “always great visiting” with Jones and thanked him for his support of an Austin PD charity project.

“I’ve been really reflecting about how I can continue to lift my voice to be a voice of reason and a voice on how to move criminal justice and policing forward,” Acevedo told the Miami New Times this month about his new CNN gig. “I look forward to a positive partnership with CNN in the upcoming weeks, months, and hopefully years.”

Acevedo, who has expressed criticism of Republicans, has come under fire for his record as a police chief that included allegations of misconduct and corruption.

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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