Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to neo-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 September 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
“I’ve been doing some reading and doing some studying, and I believe that to be very, very true,” he added, before further suggesting the work was done by controlled explosives.
“The other thing that just is so striking to me, I can’t get it out of my brain, and that is the vision of Building 7 falling faster than the speed of gravity, right? Building 7, which no plane hit,” said Peroutka. “And all of a sudden Building 7 falls, very consistent with what they call controlled demolitions or controlled charges because that building from the top down falls faster than if you had thrown a hammer off the top of the building.”
Peroutka went even further with his conspiratorial logic, speculating that every building in New York City could have preset charges awaiting detonation by some “elite bureaucrat.”
“That begs the question that if there are preset charges in Building Seven, what’s to stop there for being preset charges in Buildings 1, 2 8, 9, and 27?” said Peroutka. “Are there charges in every building in New York City? Is everyone ready to be brought down whenever some elite bureaucrat decides that he’s gonna pull it?”
Peroutka also called the 9/11 terrorist attacks an “inside job,” saying “you can’t have an explosion in the basement that’s done by the hijacker on the airplane” 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 the “primary election results demonstrate that Maryland Republicans are dissatisfied with their current leadership.”
But outgoing Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan called out Peroutka on Sunday, saying, “These disgusting lies don’t belong in our party.”
Lofton said, “Ah, but see the missile thing. Then you gotta count for the remains and the body parts and show how all those people got inside the missile. How all those passengers-”
“I saw the pictures. There was, there was nothing that looked like a body or luggage or anything in there,” Peroutka interrupted. “And the pictures that I saw — if there are pictures, John — that show body parts or luggage or even a seat of an airplane that’s consistent with Flight 77, that particular airplane. If there’s anything that’s consistent with that, I haven’t seen a picture of it.”
Shortly after, Lofton said, “If I can produce for you a person who was a friend or loved one of one of the passengers that perished on that plane that hit the Pentagon, that says, ‘Yes, we got remains back from our loved one or friend.’ Will that impress you?”
“No, absolutely not,” replied Peroutka. “Where did the remains come from? I’m not disputing that the people died.”
“Unless a plane hit the Pentagon, how would the remains of anybody on that flight get into the Pentagon?” asked Lofton.
“I didn’t say they got into the Pentagon. I couldn’t see them in the Pentagon. There wasn’t any — I’ve never seen any evidence that anything like a body or a passenger or passenger’s luggage or anything that’s consistent with the Flight 77 is in the Pentagon. If there are such pictures, I’d like to see them. Now, you could clearly understand that somebody whose loved one was lost on that plane, very possibly, could have gotten some piece of forensic evidence that indicated that their loved one was in fact deceased. But who says that came from the Pentagon?”
Peroutka then said this was the first time he had heard that the remains of the deceased were found at the Pentagon.
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
