Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said this week that he wants to hold congressional hearings on a debunked conspiracy theory about the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that there are "an awful lot of questions" about the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history.
"There's an awful lot of questions," Johnson, the chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Monday in an interview on the conservative activist Benny Johnson's podcast.
“What actually happened on 9/11? What do we know? What is being covered up?” Johnson said of the 2001 attacks. "My guess is there’s an awful lot being covered up in terms of what the American government knows about 9/11."
Asked if he planned on holding hearings, Johnson said, "I think so."
"There are a host of questions I will be asking," the senator said.
Asked for further details, a spokeswoman for the senator told NBC News on Wednesday that a “potential hearing will depend on what information/documentation is obtained by our office.”
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Johnson's comments focused on a long-debunked claim about a building in the World Trade Center complex that collapsed hours after the Twin Towers were brought down by airliners.
The Wisconsin senator, who has a history of amplifying conspiracy theories, said in the interview that the investigation into the building that came down, Building 7, was “corrupt” and suggested its collapse was the result of a “controlled demolition.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, sharply criticized Johnson’s comments.
"Respectfully, Senator Johnson should stop peddling conspiracy theories about the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history and one that forever altered the lives of so many of my fellow New Yorkers," Lawler wrote in a post on X. "Crap like this dishonors and disrespects the innocent lives lost, our brave first responders, and all families and survivors who still carry the pain of 9/11 each and every day."
John Feal, a demolition supervisor at Ground Zero in New York and longtime advocate for first responders, called Johnson's remarks "silly and pathetic."
"If Ron Johnson really wants to know what happened on 9/11, I can meet with him," Feal told CNN in an interview Wednesday. "I’ll let him know that innocent lives were lost on 9/11. Heroes died racing towards those innocent lives, and subsequently, 137,000 people are now sick because of the aftermath of 9/11."
Feal said he'll be in D.C. on Tuesday to advocate against the Trump administration's cuts to the World Trade Center Health Program, and said that's what Johnson should be questioning.
"Ron Johnson’s priorities are backwards, and he’s a silly man,” Feal said.
