Hogan slams ‘disgusting lies’ about 9/11 by Maryland GOP attorney general nominee

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) condemned his party’s pick for state attorney general on Sunday, following a CNN report revealing the nominee spread conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on a radio show he co-hosted roughly 15 years ago.

Michael Peroutka, who won the Republican primary earlier this month, said it was “very, very true” that demolition charges were present in the World Trade Center before the attacks, during an October 2006 episode of “The American View.” He also questioned if an “elite bureaucrat” may have charges in every building in the city.

“We know who was responsible for 9/11,” Hogan tweeted Sunday. “Blaming our country for Al-Qaeda’s atrocities is an insult to the memory of the thousands of innocent Americans and brave first responders who died that day. These disgusting lies don’t belong in our party.”

Hogan, who is in his second and final term as Republican governor of a traditionally blue state, has repeatedly criticized members of his own party, including former President Trump.

After Trump-backed candidate Dan Cox won Maryland’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Hogan said he wouldn’t support his party’s nominee in the general election. Hogan previously called Cox a “QAnon conspiracy theorist.”

Peroutka, who is endorsed by Cox, suggested during the 2006 radio episode the Twin Towers fell as a result of controlled explosives, CNN reported.

“I’ve been doing some reading and doing some studying, and I believe that to be very, very true,” Peroutka said, according to the outlet. 

“And I said that if the buildings in New York City, the World Trade Center buildings, came down by demolition charges – that is to say – if there was this evidence that there was that something was preset there, then the implications of that are massive,” he continued.

The Hill has reached out to the Peroutka campaign for comment.

CNN reported that Peroutka on the show also suggested that Building Seven, which was part of the World Trade Center complex and located close by to the Twin Towers, fell as a result of a controlled demolition and claimed the building fell faster than the speed of gravity.

“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?” Peroutka said. 

“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 added.