Former President Donald Trump defended his supporter and close ally Laura Loomer, calling the far-right conspiracy theorist a “strong person” and denying he had heard some of her recent offensive comments about 9/11.
Trump spoke to reporters at his golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California on Friday and was asked two questions about Loomer.
Loomer flew with Trump to Philadelphia for Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and then accompanied him to a 9/11 memorial event Wednesday. The far-right activist has a long history of making anti-semitic and bigoted comments, and has even promoted baseless 9/11 conspiracies. Just this week alone, she has said the White House would “smell like curry” if Harris wins, threatened to “expose” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) after she criticized Loomer, made homophobic attacks about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and peddled 9/11 conspiracies again.
During the debate, Trump dropped a number of unfounded and untrue claims and rants, including saying pet-eating migrants were terrorizing an Ohio town, drawing criticism even from fellow Republicans — and a lot of that backlash noted how Loomer has been very obviously in close proximity to Trump recently, blaming her influence for some of his more outlandish debate moments.
A reporter asked Trump what he would say to the Republican colleagues and other allies “who are concerned about your close relationship with Laura Loomer,” and he replied:
Well, I don’t know what they would say. Laura has been a supporter of mine, just like a lot of people are supporters and she’s been a supporter of mine. She speaks very, uh, positively of the campaign. I’m not sure why you asked that question, but Laura is a supporter.
I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a, she’s a free spirit. Well, I don’t know. I may — look, I can’t tell Laura what to do. Laura is a supporter. I have a lot of supporters, but — so I don’t know what exactly you’re referring to, that’s okay.
Yeah, please, I just don’t know. Laura is a supporter. I don’t know. She is, she is a strong person. She’s got strong opinions and I don’t know what she said, but that’s not up to me. She’s a supporter —
A reporter commented that Loomer had been with Trump on his plane, and he responded that “a lot of people” were. “It’s a very big plane,” he added.
“She made racist remarks about your opponent,” the reporter continued. “She also espoused conspiracy theories about 9/11. Do you disavow those remarks?”
“We’ll have to see what the remarks are,” Trump said. “You telling me? For the first time, we’re here about — we’re here discussing the destruction of San Francisco and California by a person that’s running for president. So I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I do know that she may have said something based on what you’re telling me, but I don’t know what she said. But I’ll go take a look and I’ll put out a statement later on, but I really don’t know.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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