Fast Forward

GOP Distances Itself From 9/11 Truther Candidate Ron Cohen

GOP California House candidate Ron Cohen defended a “theory” he has that Barack Obama’s children have different biological parents. Image by roncohen4congress2018.com

By Alyssa Fisher October 4, 2018

The California Republican Party and two county Republican parties are distancing themselves from congressional candidate and 9/11 truther Ron Cohen, Media Matters reported.

Cohen, running in California’s 17th district, claims that “Bush staged 9/11” said the collapse of 7 World Trade Center was a “pre-planned demolition.” He backed up his views using a video by Alex Jones, a notorious conspiracy theorist who has been booted from nearly all social media channels.

“I am aware of his comments and of course we disagree,” California Republican Party spokesman Matt Fleming wrote in an email to Media Matters. “The party has not provided any support to his candidacy and there are no plans to.”

However, the party’s endorsement still stands.

Cohen has since removed the theories — which includes his concern that “the Airforce has been spraying us with chemicals” — from his campaign website and Twitter account.

He was not the only Jewish Republican congressional candidate to make questionable statements on Twitter last week.

Beverly Goldstein, an ardent Trump supporter running for Ohio’s 11th District seat, tweeted that a new law in Cuyahoga County protecting LGBTQ rights only passed because the county council was devoid of “literate inner-city church-attending Black voters,” The Root reported.

AWFUL CUYAHOGA OUTCOME HRC 2 be created. Must launch effective legal challenge. Shout out: hubby Michael testified. Outcome directly tied 2 CLE 66% adult illiteracy. If CCC had LITERATE inner-city church-attending Black voters following this issue=entirely opposite outcome https://t.co/EaJwXOhcHs

— Beverly4Congress (@BevGoldstein) September 26, 2018

While local parties have yet to fully pull their support for Cohen and Goldstein, the New Jersey party recently did so for Seth Grossman, after the candidate shared articles on Facebook from racist websites, including one that said black people “are a threat to all who cross their paths.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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