Ron Paul has been criticized in the past for his outspoken opinions on 9/11—at a GOP debate in September, Rick Santorum attacked him for a blog post in which Paul claimed terrorist attacks occur because the United States forcibly occupies foreign countries. But former Paul staffer and confidant Eric Dondero has taken things one step further, accusing Paul of being "the original 9/11 truther"—”When Al- Qaeda attacked our country on 9-11, Ron Paul told us the CIA was behind it. And that Bush and Cheney knew about the attack in advance," Dondero said, according to the Examiner. And this morning, Paul explicitly denied that accusation as "complete nonsense."

Among other things, Dondero added: "He engaged in conspiracy theories including perhaps the attacks were coordinated with the CIA, and that the Bush administration might have known about the attacks ahead of time. He expressed no sympathies whatsoever for those who died on 9/11, and pretty much forbade us staffers from engaging in any sort of memorial expressions, or openly asserting pro-military statements in support of the Bush administration."

You can read Dondero's full statements on Paul in a post on Right Wing News here. On ABC's This Week, Paul adamantly denied to host Jake Tapper the charges from his former staffer:

TAPPER: One of your former close aides recently said that you, quote, "engaged in conspiracy theories, including perhaps the 9/11 attacks were coordinated with the CIA, and that the Bush administration might have known about the attacks ahead of time." So have you ever expressed in front of anyone...
PAUL: Now, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't -- don't go any further on that. That's complete nonsense.
TAPPER: It's nonsense?
PAUL: Just stop that.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Not true?
PAUL: Yeah, no. I did not -- I never bought into that stuff. I never talked about it.
TAPPER: OK.
PAUL: About the conspiracy of Bush -- of Bush knowing about this? No, no, come on. Come on. Let's be reasonable.
TAPPER: OK.
PAUL: That's just off-the-wall.

The day after the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Paul posted a video and text in which he argued the motivation behind the terrorist attack wasn't because Muslims hate America and "our way of life," but rather because of the occupations of foreign countries:

Though it is hard for many to believe, honest studies show that the real motivation behind the September 11 attacks and the vast majority of other instances of suicide terrorism is not that our enemies are bothered by our way of life. Neither is it our religion, or our wealth. Rather, it is primarily occupation. If you were to imagine for a moment how you would feel if another country forcibly occupied the United States, had military bases and armed soldiers present in our hometowns, you might begin to understand why foreign occupation upsets people so much. Robert Pape has extensively researched this issue and goes in depth in his book “Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It”. In fact, of 2,200 incidents of suicide attacks he has studied worldwide since 1980, 95% were in response to foreign occupation.

During his ABC appearance today, Paul also once again addressed the controversial racist newsletters which have dogged him the past few weeks.

TAPPER: And then lastly, on the newsletters, I just want to ask this. You published a for-profit newsletter under your own name for decades, didn't know it included extremely offensive statements. Assuming what you're saying is 100 percent true, you did not see these sentences, doesn't this call into question your management style?
PAUL: Well, yeah, I think so. But nobody -- I don't think anybody in the world has been perfect on management, everybody that's ever worked for them. So, yes, it's -- it's -- it's a flaw. But I think it's a human flaw. And I think it is probably shared by a lot more people than myself, because, you know, when you have hundreds of people over the years that have worked for you, and it's happened even in big corporations or big newspapers or on TV stations, you can't monitor -- every once in a while, somebody on a TV station will say something, but as the owner and (inaudible) you know, get blamed for what the person says.
So, no, you can't monitor every single thing, but it is a flaw. And, of course, I -- I admit that I'm an imperfect person and -- and didn't monitor that as well. But to -- to paint my whole life on that is a gross distortion, because we have to remember, I didn't write them, I didn't see them before that, and I have disavowed them. That to me is the most important thing.
The only other thing that we should do is you and others should look at all my other statements and my defense of civil liberties and race relations. Believe me, if anybody cared about, all they have to do is go to the Internet. The defense is honest and straightforward, and you will get an honest assessment of my views on race relations.
And that's all I ask for people to do, because I feel quite comfortable with myself. I know where the shortcomings were. But I'm very comfortable with my viewpoints, believing very sincerely -- those people who know me know exactly where the -- the defect is in race relations today. It's in the judicial system, where minorities are mistreated more so than anybody else.