Jones navigated the line of questioning successfully.

He got it on the record multiple times that they are impeaching his character by using his show's content but using edited footage in order to do so.

It looks shady when a lawyer refuses to "play the full clip" even when Jones says, boldly, that he didn't publish or sign off on it.

That they are dodging his appropriate response means they know it would help Jones' case, and they did, in fact, edit their "evidence" to misrepresent his character.

Impeaching his character means they can say something like "nothing he says can be believable because he is a habitual liar." If done effectively, it means that he has no ability to defend himself personally and must require the statements of other individuals to back up his claims.

In short, they are misrepresenting his character in order to impeach his character, which is the very basis of mischaracterization and as a result cannot impeach his character.

Jones "won" this confrontation as best as you can given an almost definite losing position. His judge is partial, he pointed that out, and now he's paying for it because the judge is partial.

Throwing it back in their face and saying they are editing things calls into question THEIR character being believable, which isn't what a lawyer ever wants to have happen because their intention is to convince the jury/judge of something.

All this said...

What happens to Jones shouldn't demoralize anyone. He and his lawyers could have gotten a much better position legally by now. This is a show trial, whether he's fully cooperating or being blackmailed. He's being made as an example, and it's almost certain he has already lost -- it depends on how/if they want to maintain power over his followers.

Yep. He's dropping constant truth bombs. What a revelation this part of the movie is. The judge and prosecutor are abusive and condescending. Jones keeps falling on his sword. I betcha he's playing these foul people.

Impeaching one's character successfully means they can dismiss everything he says as unbelievable.

Effectively, it means he could no longer say something and it be a fact by which his lawyers can draft arguments.

If his statements in totality are called into question should they successfully impeach his character, it means nothing he says has any weight in court -- which means he can no longer personally defend himself with his own statements or testimony.