Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona, said in a resurfaced radio interview from 2003 that she does not care if people fight for the Taliban against the United States.
Sinema, who is running against Republican Rep. Martha McSally, also co-hosted a radio show with a conspiracy theorist who claimed the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by the government.
During a February 2003 interview on a radio show hosted by libertarian activist Ernest Hancock, Sinema said she did not object to individuals going abroad to fight for groups hostile to the U.S., Fox News reports.
"As an individual, if I want to go fight in the Taliban army, I go over there, and I'm fighting for the Taliban, I'm saying that's a personal decision," Hancock said.
"Fine. I don't care if you go and do that, go ahead," Sinema replied.
Sinema also said the U.S. military went into the Middle East for "a number of reasons," including "oil, power, control" of the region.
"There's also, what I think is rather convenient, which is the switch and bait theory, which is, don't pay attention to the falling economy, don't pay attention to the tax cuts for wealthy, let's pay attention to this horrible imminent threat," Sinema continued.
Two months after the interview, Sinema told the Arizona Republic that "we should feel compassion" for enemy combatants killed in Iraq.
In 2005, the Arizona Democrat became friends with a conspiracy theorist who claims the U.S. government carried out the 9/11 attacks. Between 2006 and 2007, she co-hosted a radio show with conspiracy theorist Jeff Farias, who signed a 2008 petition alleging the U.S. government planted explosives in the World Trade Center.
Farias promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories on his radio show through 2010. He also co-led a 2007 conference that rejected the government's explanation of the attacks and was attended by InfoWars' Alex Jones.
Sinema does not seem to have commented on the 9/11 attacks while on the show with Farias, but she maintained a friendship with him and went to an event co-sponsored by a conspiracy group.
In 2006, Sinema and Farias spoke at an anti-war rally called "End the US Occupation of Iraq." One of the sponsors of the event was 911 Truth of Arizona. The group's stated mission is "to expose the official lies and cover-up surrounding the events of September 11th, 2001 in a way that inspires the people to overcome denial and understand the truth; namely, that elements within the US government and covert policy apparatus must have orchestrated or participated in the execution of the attacks for these to have happened in the way that they did."
Sinema was interviewed on Farias' radio show in 2010 and 2012. In 2015, Farias posted a decade-old picture of the two of them and wrote that he had seen her recently.
The Arizona Democrat's campaign did not respond to Fox News’ multiple requests for comment.
Recent polls show a tight race in Arizona, with Sinema holding a narrow edge over McSally in the RealClearPolitics average.