By Kanishka Singh and Gabriella Borter, Reuters
Far-right activist Laura Loomer speaks to the media prior to the beginning of former President Donald Trump's Trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on 15 April 2024 in New York City. Photo: DAVID DEE DELGADO / AFP
The White House rebuked former President Donald Trump for his association with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who has been travelling this week with the Republican presidential candidate.
Loomer says she does not work for Trump. However, she has mentioned speaking to him about political matters and frequents his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Her incendiary posts on X, where she has 1.2 million followers, at times seem to provide grist for Trump's next lines of attack.
Ahead of Trump's debate with Democratic Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday, Loomer said that if Harris, who is of Indian descent, won the 5 November election, "the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center."
"It is, repugnant, these types of comments, it is un-American to say these types of things, exactly the kind of hateful and divisive rhetoric that we should denounce," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday.
"No leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison," Jean-Pierre said.
Loomer flew with Trump to his Tuesday debate in Pennsylvania and was in New York with him and his team on Wednesday for a commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks, according to video and photo footage.
Loomer has previously suggested the Sept. 11 attacks were an insider job by sharing a video last year on Twitter that promoted that conspiracy theory. She has since changed her position and told CNN in an interview published on Thursday that the attacks were carried out by "Islamic terrorists."
Republican activist Laura Loomer shouts at Jack Dorsey creator, co-founder, and Chairman of Twitter and co-founder & CEO of Square, as he speaks on stage during the crypto-currency conference Bitcoin 2021 Convention at the Mana Convention Center in Miami, Florida, on 4 June 2021. Photo: MARCO BELLO / AFP
Trump's campaign, when asked about the White House criticism of his ties to Loomer, did not directly address their relations but said he sought bipartisan unity in the Wednesday ceremony marking the Sept. 11 attacks.
In an online post, Loomer dismissed the White House criticism, denying she was a racist and suggesting that Jean-Pierre, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, was critical because she didn't like Loomer's social media post about a false claim that Haitian immigrants are eating pets.
- Reuters