A judge late Tuesday night said he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors.

A federal judge in Texas has rejected the auction sale of the conspiracy platform to the satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding process as flawed.

The judge criticized the auction process as flawed and said the outcome "left a lot of money on the table" for Sandy Hook families.