Former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign said it would not be hiring Laura Loomer, a former congressional candidate and controversial influencer.
On Friday, two people familiar with the matter told the New York Times that Trump told his aides to hire Loomer, an outspoken advocate for Trump since his 2016 campaign. The announcement led to a firestorm of backlash, including from staunch Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who called Loomer “mentally unstable and a documented liar” in a tweet.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE OPPOSES ‘MENTALLY UNSTABLE’ LAURA LOOMER FOR TRUMP CAMPAIGN ROLE
Greene pledged that she would go to Trump directly. Whether due to Greene’s intervention or the wider backlash, Trump’s campaign announced later on Friday that it would not be hiring Loomer.
Loomer told the outlet that she would not disclose details of her private conversations with Trump but bashed the leakers who told the press of Trump’s plans to hire her.
“The president knows I have always been a Trump loyalist,” she said. “I’m committed to helping him win reelection in 2024. He likes me very much. And it’s a shame that he’s surrounded by some people that run to a publication that is notorious for attacking him in order to try to cut me at the knees instead of being loyal to President Trump and respecting their confidentiality agreements.”
Loomer took to Twitter to defend herself throughout the day, but she released a more tame statement to the press, citing the Jewish and Christian holidays as being a cause for unity. She urged the media to focus its attention elsewhere.
“During this period of Passover and Holy Week, I think Americans should be taking the time to come together, not tear each other apart. This past week we have witnessed an unprecedented shift towards authoritarianism in America,” she wrote.
“In context, I scarcely think I merit time as a news item, because of the opinions of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Kevin McCarthy. It’s an unwanted, unnecessary, and unbecoming distraction, and I urge them to desist in the name of national as well as movement-wide unity,” she added.
Several conservative figures took to Twitter to defend Loomer, including Noor bin Laden, the niece of Osama bin Laden. Noor bin Laden is now a conservative activist.
Greene originally supported Loomer. The congresswoman went so far as to congratulate Loomer on her congressional primary win in 2020, and she demanded Twitter reinstate Loomer’s account, which had been suspended over anti-Muslim remarks. In her most recent tweet referencing Loomer in February 2021, Greene referred to Loomer as her friend.
The two have since experienced a falling out and divided the MAGA movement. Part of the issue appears to be their relation to far-right figure Nick Fuentes, whom Loomer is close with.
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After Greene disavowed Fuentes in December, Loomer bashed the congresswoman in a string of messages on Telegram, deriding her as a “fraud,” an “adulterer,” a “phony Christian,” a “hypocrite,” and as being “out of her mind.”
Loomer has come under fire in the past for her anti-Muslim remarks. She has described Islam as a “cancer” and self-identified as an “Islamophobe.” However, on Friday, she claimed she is not anti-Muslim and said she only opposes “Sharia Law and jihadist infiltration.”
