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Sarah Wasko / Media Matters

The 9/11 conspiracy theorists in pro-Trump media - including the president himself

Written by Madeline Peltz

Published 09/11/20 10:41 AM EDT

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Nineteen years after the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history, the president of the United States is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who has consistently elevated others who share similar views. 

In 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump pushed the false and racist smear that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey had cheered in the streets following the attacks. In 2016, he falsely claimed that the wives of the hijackers “knew exactly what was happening” and fled to Saudi Arabia in advance, where he said “they watched their husband on television flying into the World Trade Center.”

Trump has a history of lying about his own whereabouts during and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and he infamously bragged on television after the twin towers fell that his building became the tallest in Manhattan.

Here’s a noncomprehensive list of other 9/11 conspiracy theorists in Trump’s orbit.

Alex Jones

Infowars’ Alex Jones is a self-described “founding father” of 9/11 conspiracy theories. He has repeatedly claimed that 9/11 was an “inside job” and said on the day of the attack that the government is “either using provocateur Arabs and allowing them to do it or this is full complicity,” described the events as “controlled demolitions,” and said Osama bin Laden was a “CIA asset,” among various other offensive speculations.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump appeared on Jones’ Infowars show and praised his “amazing” reputation. Trump himself pushed a 9/11 conspiracy theory from Infowars when he tweeted a link to the site.

Roger Stone

On July 10, Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and ally Roger Stone, who was convicted of seven felonies for lying to investigators and obstructing the congressional investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russian election interference.

In 2016, Stone pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin was “connected to radical Islamic organizations” behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Trump recently endorsed QAnon conspiracy theorist and Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene. In a video uncovered by Media Matters exposing Greene as a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, she said “there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.” This is well documented as being false -- there is video and photographic evidence that a plane did hit the Pentagon.

Andrew Napolitano

Trump once described Fox's Andrew Napolitano as “a very talented legal mind.” Following the 2016 election, Napolitano told friends during the transition that he was on Trump’s short list for Supreme Court nominees after two personal meetings with the president-elect. In a 2017 press conference, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer cited Napolitano to claim that the British government spied on the Trump campaign, causing an international diplomatic crisis.

Napolitano is a 9/11 truther who said during an appearance on Jones’ radio show that it is “hard” to believe that World Trade Center Building 7 “came down by itself,” and that “twenty years from now, people will look at 9/11 the way we look at the assassination of JFK today. It couldn't possibly have been done the way the government told us.” 

Mark Dice

The Trump administration hosted 9/11 conspiracy theorist Mark Dice at a 2019 “social media summit” at the White House.

Dice has claimed the “Illuminati were instrumental in assuring that the 9/11 attacks happened.” He also once organized a letter writing campaign to the military to “explain the evidence that the 9/11 attacks were aided by corrupt U.S. officials for political purposes.”

Jerome Corsi 

Jerome Corsi is an Ivy League-credentialed “hero of the ‘9/11 Truth’ movement” who Trump has praised on Twitter and once shared a column Corsi wrote for the right-wing conspiracy website WorldNetDaily.

According to The New York Times, Corsi pushed the debunked conspiracy theory that the jet fuel from the hijacked planes which crashed into the World Trade Center could not have melted steel during an appearance on Alex Jones’ radio show. Corsi is a close associate of Stone and was also involved in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign.

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In This Article

  • Donald Trump

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  • Roger Stone

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  • Jerome Corsi

    Jerome-Corsi-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Alex Jones

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  • Infowars

    Infowars-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Andrew Napolitano

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  • False-Flag Conspiracy Theory

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