Trump refuses to criticize Laura Loomer amid concerns from Republican allies about her influence

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump refused on Friday to condemn recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to Tuesday night’s presidential debate and several 9/11 memorial events. “Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with Loomer, who once declared herself a “proud Islamophobe” and has a long history of promoting ugly and extreme conspiracies. Trump said Loomer has “strong opinions,” but insisted at the news conference he was unaware of her recent comments, including a post on X in which she played on racist stereotypes by writing that “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” if his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, wins in November. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.

“I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants,” Trump said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do. ” Yet later, via his Truth Social account, Trump tried to distance himself more clearly from Loomer, saying, “I disagree with the statements she made” and describing her as “a private citizen and longtime supporter” who “doesn’t work for the Campaign. ” Even in that post, though, Trump defended Loomer, writing that “like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me.

” Loomer’s appearances on the campaign trail with Trump have alarmed some top supporters, who have taken the rare move of publicly airing their concerns that he is hurting his chances against Harris, who is driving up Democratic enthusiasm that intensified with her debate performance Tuesday. Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman known herself for spreading conspiracies, called the post about curry “appalling and extremely racist” and said it did not represent Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N. C.

, called Loomer “a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans,” and said a Democratic Party “plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. ” Trump has a history of association with extremists, including dining in 2022 at his Mar-a-Lago club with Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who had used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric. Trump had said at the time that he “knew nothing about” Fuentes before his dinner with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.