US Presidential Elections 2024: Donald Trump tries to distance from Laura Loomer’s comments; welcomes her support

Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump distanced himself on Friday from the far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer who has been accompanying the former president on his campaign trips. Her presence in Trump’s camp had invited the anger of Trump’s friends and the White House. Although Trump attempted to distance himself from Loomer, he did not disavow her, reported Reuters.

Loomer is a popular personality on the social media platform X, boasting a following of 1.2 million people. Last year, a conspiracy theorist posted a video claiming that the 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001, were an inside job. Loomer has since changed her position on the issue and told CNN in an interview that the perpetrators of the attack were “Islamic Terrorists”.

In an attempt to distance himself, the Trump campaign released a statement on Friday. The statement noted that Trump did not agree with Loomer’s past statements but welcomed her support. The former president further noted that Loomer does not work for the campaign, although she has been travelling with the entourage on the plane for the past week.

Trump answered a question related to Loomer during a press conference at his Southern California golf club.

“She is a strong person, she’s got strong opinions,” he said, calling her a ”free spirit.”

Loomer was in attendance at the presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday and then in New York the next day to commemorate the September 11 attacks.

On Friday, Trump announced at a Las Vegas rally that he had heard his opponent Kamala Harris was using a secret earpiece during the presidential debate earlier this week. This baseless conspiracy was promoted on X by Loomer.

The conspiracy theorist triggered many earlier this week, too, inviting criticism for making a post on X. In the post, Loomer wrote that if Harris, who is of Indian descent, won the November 5 elections, “the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.”

The post was condemned by White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, who deemed the post “racist poison” and criticised Trump for associating with her.

Trump also received flak from his party members, including US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and US Senators Lindsey Graham.

Thom Tillis, also targeted Loomer after her comment about Harris. Tillis took to X and wrote that Loomer “is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans.”

In another instance, while the former president was busy in California, Loomer was promoting his incendiary comments about immigrants who enter the US illegally on X.

“I’m simply a ride or die supporter of President Trump,” she later posted. In another post on Friday, she claimed that Republicans coming at her were envious of the fact she was accompanying Trump and they were not.

A native resident of Florida, Loomer also ran for Congress twice, failing to make it. She also has a long history of expressing Islamophobic sentiments. This habit prompted the ban on her then-Twitter account. The ban, however, was reversed after Elon Musk acquired the company and renamed it X.