The Republican nominee for Maryland Attorney General hosted radio shows about the 9/11 conspiracy

CNN
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The Republican Party nominee for Maryland Attorney General hosted a series of five radio shows in 2006 devoted to arguing for 9/11 conspiracy theories questioning whether the terror attack was the work of an “elite bureaucrat” who had demolition charges in every building in New York and even suggesting if those who died after a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon were killed elsewhere.

Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to New Confederate organizations, made the remarks on The American View, a radio show he co-hosted, in October 2006 while discussing the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

« What happened on 9-1-1, I told you I did research and watched videos, » Peroutka said during one of the episodes reviewed by CNN’s KFile. « And I said if the buildings in New York, the World Trade Center buildings, came under demolition charges – that is – if there was this evidence that there had something preset there, so the implications of that are huge,” Peroutka said.

“I have read and studied, and I believe that to be very, very true,” he added, before further suggesting that the work was done by controlled explosives.

« The other thing that strikes me so much, I can’t get it out of my brain, and that’s the vision of Building 7 falling faster than the speed of gravity, right? Building 7 , which no planes hit, » Peroutka said. « And all of a sudden building 7 comes down, very consistent with what they call controlled demolitions or controlled loads, because this building from top to bottom down falls faster than if you had thrown a hammer from the top of the building. »

Peroutka’s comments echo the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center, the smallest building near the towers, were wired with explosives and exploded in a series of demolitions controlled.

The Twin Towers collapsed after planes hijacked by terrorists intentionally crashed into the North Tower and then the South Tower, killing 2,753 people. Nearby « Building 7 » suffered intense, out-of-control fires after debris from the north tower hit the building, causing a chain reaction that led to the building’s collapse, according to a 2008 study published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Perutka took his conspiratorial logic even further, speculating that every apartment building in New York might have predefined charges waiting to be detonated by an « elite bureaucrat ».

« This begs the question that if there are predefined loads in building seven, what has to stop there to be predefined loads in buildings 1, 2, 8, 9 and 27? » Perutka said. “Are there charges in every building in New York? Is everyone ready to be knocked down every time an elite bureaucrat decides they’re going to take him out? »

Peroutka also called the 9/11 terrorist attacks an « inside job », saying « you can’t have an explosion in the basement which is made by the hijacker on the plane » and claimed that the official account of the 9/11 attack was the real « conspiracy theory ».

The campaign did not address Peroutka’s previous conspiracy theories when asked for comment, but Macky Stafford, Petroutka’s campaign coordinator, told CNN in a statement that « primary election results demonstrate that Republicans in Maryland are unhappy with their current leadership. »

Peroutka previously ran for president in 2004 as a candidate for the Constitution Party. During this campaign, Peroutka posted on his website an endorsement of the Southern League – a new Confederate organization that advocates Southern secession. His campaign homepage prominently featured a Confederate flag linked to « Southerns for Peroutka » whose homepage had a large Confederate flag displayed above the Capitol saying, « We have a dream ». He also promoted his candidacy for the Conservative Citizens Council, according to copies of their newsletter obtained by CNN. The CCC is a self-proclaimed white rights group that opposes non-white immigration and promotes white nationalist ideology.

Peroutka will face Democratic Representative Anthony Brown in the general election in November. If elected, Brown would be the state’s first black attorney general. Maryland has not had a Republican attorney general since 1952, when one was appointed; the last elected Republican attorney general in the state was in 1919.

In other episodes of Peroutka’s radio show reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Peroutka also questioned whether the Pentagon was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, asking where the video shows this « attack, plane or incoming missile », later stating that it is « very plausible that a missile that looked like an airplane hit the Pentagon.

Peroutka even asked if the remains of the deceased had been found at the Pentagon, suggesting that they had been killed elsewhere. He said he had seen « no evidence » of bodies or luggage of his late co-host and former presidential campaign adviser John Lofton.

Lofton said, “Ah, but see the missile thing. Then you have to count the remains and body parts and show how all those people got into the missile. How all these passengers… »

“I saw the pictures. There was, there was nothing like a body or baggage or anything in there,” Peroutka interrupted. “And the photos I’ve seen – if there are photos, John – that show body parts or luggage or even an airplane seat that matches Flight 77, that particular airplane. If there’s anything consistent with that, I haven’t seen a picture of it.

Shortly after, Lofton said, « If I can show you a person who was a friend or loved one of one of the passengers who perished on that plane that hit the Pentagon, who says, ‘Yes, we have retrieved the remains of our beloved one or friend.’ Will this impress you?

« No, absolutely not, » Perutka replied. “Where do the remains come from? I don’t dispute that people are dead.

« Unless a plane reached the Pentagon, how would the remains of anyone on that flight get into the Pentagon? » Lofton asked.

“I didn’t say they entered the Pentagon. I couldn’t see them at the Pentagon. There was no – I’ve never seen any evidence that anything like a body or a passenger or a passenger’s baggage or anything consistent with Flight 77 is at the Pentagon. If there are such photos, I would like to see them. Now you can clearly understand that someone whose loved one was lost on that plane, most likely, could have obtained forensic evidence that their loved one was in fact deceased. But who said it came from the Pentagon?

Peroutka then said it was the first time he had heard that the remains of the deceased had been found at the Pentagon.

American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by five terrorists on September 11, 2021 and deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people on board and 125 others in the building.