Trump reportedly looking for campaign role for far-right activist Laura Loomer
Former President Trump is reportedly asking aides to find a role in his campaign for Laura Loomer, a former congressional candidate and far-right activist with a lengthy history of anti-Muslim comments.
The New York Times reported that Trump met with Loomer recently and has directed advisers to give her a position supporting his candidacy, potentially with the campaign itself or with a super PAC aligned with the former president’s 2024 White House bid.
In a statement to The Hill, a Trump spokesperson did not deny that the former president was looking to bring Loomer aboard.
“The entire movement is united behind President Trump and his campaign, and it will take everyone rowing in the same direction in order to beat Biden and take our country back,” the spokesperson said.
Loomer posted on Twitter that she would not comment on media leaks about her conversations with the former president.
“Anyone who leaks private and confidential conversations they had with President Trump doesn’t have his best interest in mind,” Loomer tweeted.
Loomer has previously described Islam as a “cancer.”
She was banned from ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft in 2017 after tweeting that she “never want[s] to support another Islamic immigrant driver,” and calling for “someone … to create a non Islamic form of @uber or @lyft.”
She was banned from Twitter after a series of anti-Muslim posts, including one targeting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, that made incendiary claims about Islam. She was reinstated after Elon Musk purchased the platform.
Trump in 2020 congratulated Loomer after she won a GOP primary race in Florida’s 21st Congressional District, which includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Hiring Loomer would likely bring about a wave of backlash given her anti-Muslim views and history of inflammatory statements, but it would not be the first time even in recent months Trump has engaged with a fringe, far-right figure.
Trump in November had dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and racist, as well as the rapper Ye. Ye, formerly Kanye West, has also espoused antisemitic views in recent months. Trump later claimed he was not familiar with Fuentes’s views.
Already on Friday, some Trump allies were pushing back on the idea of Loomer joining the campaign.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, tweeted that Loomer is “mentally unstable and a documented liar” and “can not be trusted.” Greene accused Loomer of attacking her after the congresswoman backed Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for the Speaker’s gavel.
“Never hire or do business with a liar. Liars are toxic and poisonous to everything they touch,” Greene tweeted. “I’ll make sure he knows.”
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) also quickly jumped on reports of Trump’s interest in hiring Loomer, calling the move unsurprising but “no less vile.”
“In a normal world, Republicans would immediately condemn this, but after they’ve spent years making countless excuses for Donald Trump, we won’t hold our breath,” DNC national press secretary Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
This story was updated at 2:44 p.m.
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