Reality star-turned-Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt faced intense questioning from CNN's Jake Tapper this week regarding past comments about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
During Thursday's edition of The Lead, Tapper confronted the conservative candidate about remarks he made during a 2009 appearance on InfoWars. At the time, the former Hills star told host Alex Jones that he was '100 percent' certain the 9/11 attacks were an 'inside job.'
Tapper played the clip and directly asked, 'Do you still think that 9/11 was an inside job?'
Pratt, before giving a direct answer, explained that his views have evolved over the past 15 years, particularly after losing his home in last year's Palisades fire.
'The reality is people in charge fail us as taxpayers,' he told Tapper.
He added that he has '20 years of regret' but that his past comments do not 'connect' to his 'mission' for Los Angeles.
'And when you're listening to that audio, that's a 21, 22-year-old person,' he said. 'I'm now 42 and have experienced city negligence, state negligence, and I've learned a lot about it.'
Pratt maintained such behavior was 'actually worse than a conspiracy.'
'It's that we have people in charge that make mistakes that get people killed. So unfortunately, you know, I was young and naive to understanding how there are people that will fail citizens across the board.'
'I would have to go back and look at all that,' he continued. 'I haven't watched any of those things in 20 years, or whatever.'
Tapper appeared to squint at points as Pratt continued to explain without offering a definitive rebuttal of his previous comments.
The candidate went on to insist that the September 11 attacks were more likely the result of government failures rather than elaborate schemes.
'I believe a lot of people failed to not allow the al Qaeda terrorists to get in,' Pratt said. 'So I think the negligence in government allowed it - not on purpose, but just failures.'
Tapper then brought up a 2009 tweet where Pratt praised a conspiracy-filled documentary that Jones executive produced. Pratt also hailed Jones as 'an American hero' in another 2009 tweet that was not mentioned during the interview.
Pratt made another InfoWars appearance in 2017, well after Jones made his infamous claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting that killed 26 people never happened and was a ruse designed to attack the Second Amendment.
InfoWars aired its final broadcast earlier this month after failing to pay damages to the Sandy Hook shooting victims' families following a defamation lawsuit.
'Now with new, fresh eyes, I'm sure I would look at that a lot different,' Pratt said.
A poll last week from Emerson College showed Pratt climbing to just points behind current Mayor Karen Bass, despite originally entering as an underdog. A 2-point jump from March put him in second place, over Councilmember Nithya Raman.
