Dan Nowicki

The Republic | azcentral.com

A former Arizona legislator known for questioning the official government explanation of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon delivered the opening prayer Saturday at Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's Fountain Hills rally.

Karen Johnson, who served in Arizona's House of Representatives and Senate as a Mesa Republican, was known as one of the Legislature's most conservative members during her 1997 to 2008 time in office. Near the end of her tenure, Johnson publicly sided with the conspiracy theorists, or "truthers," calling for "a thorough, transparent investigation, free of conflicts of interest," into what happened.

In a speech on the floor of the Senate, Johnson welcomed members of the "9/11 Truth Movement" and laid out her suspicions about the 9/11 Commission report and its finding that hijacked airliners crashed into the buildings.

"Among the many theories that you can find on the Internet is one that rises above all the rest. It is rock-solid, confirmed by hard evidence and supported by hundreds of scholars, architects, engineers and other professionals who have the education, training and expertise to know what they're talking about," Johnson said.

"This is the theory that explosive demolitions brought down the Twin Towers and Building 7."

She also lamented the way the media treats people who don't accept the government's story about 9/11.

"If you've watched the media coverage since I've first began to speak out, you know how vicious and irrational it has been towards me," she said. "The media have worked hard to try to make it seem silly to even question the 9/11 Commission report, even though some of its own authors have done so."

Trump has been criticized by some Republicans for seemingly criticizing then-President George W. Bush for the 9/11 attacks. "The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that," Trump told his former presidential rival, Jeb Bush, during a February debate.

As a state lawmaker, Johnson, who now lives near Show Low, was an opponent of gay rights. One of her still-online legislative member pages lists "standing resolutely against the homosexual agenda" as a priority, although she is said to have eventually tempered her stance on the issue.

In 2009, The Arizona Republic wrote: "A conspiracy theorist on matters ranging from water fluoridation to the North American Union, Johnson has long questioned whether the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside job. But Johnson also was well-liked in legislative circles, and much was made of her moderation over the years on socially conservative issues."

Johnson's participation in Saturday's Trump rally is not her first foray into presidential politics.

Johnson also served as Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan's 1996 Arizona state campaign director.

In 2008 and 2012, Johnson was a high-profile Arizona supporter of libertarian-leaning Republican Ron Paul.

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.