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.
Watch Trump’s remarks in the player above.
“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.
WATCH: Capehart and Ponnuru on Harris’ debate success and Trump’s embrace of conspiracy theories
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. Harris was campaigning Friday across Pennsylvania.
Republican firebrand 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 “MAGA” 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.
Trump makes the campaign about his conspiracies
Harris has not commented publicly on Loomer’s ties to Trump. But as has often been the case during his three White House runs, Trump has pulled the presidential campaign this week into a discussion of far-right conspiracies and unsubstantiated rumors with consequences.
He brought up a discredited claim about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, hunting and eating pets at Tuesday’s presidential debate watched by more than 67 million people, as Harris repeatedly put him on the defensive about the economy and abortion. The claims — which he has also amplified in social media posts — have driven millions of online conversations, and resulted in serious repercussions for the town.
WATCH: Trump doubles down on debunked conspiracy about Haitian immigrants in Ohio
Bomb threats directed at the homes of Springfield’s mayor and other city officials, as well as Springfield City Hall and schools. prompted the evacuation of schools and government buildings there for a second day on Friday.
Yet Trump’s allies, notably his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have repeatedly raised the claims about pets — even as Vance acknowledged they may be false.
Trump, who has promised if elected again to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, on Friday dismissed concerns from city officials and said his operation would target Springfield.
“The real threat is what’s happening at our border,” he said.
President Joe Biden on Friday said the Haitian community was “under attack” and that the false claims had to stop.
Trump unleashes the attacks his allies expected at the debate
Speaking at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club, Trump unleashed a litany of attacks against Harris and California, as he stood on a cliff overlooking the rugged Pacific Ocean.
“She destroyed San Francisco and she destroyed the state,” Trump said of Harris, who represented California in the Senate and also served as the state’s attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco before becoming vice president. He accused her of having been soft on crime in her previous positions — something aides had suggested he would focus on during the debate.
Trump, who said he wanted to be known as “the border president,” also continued to rail against the dangers of illegal immigration, claiming that the country has had “thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants.”
In fact, there has been no spike in violent crime nationally or in the major cities where many migrants have settled, and national statistics show violent crime is on the way down.
After appearing at his golf club in upscale Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump was planning to attend a fundraiser in the afternoon in the Bay Area town of Woodside that is being hosted by billionaire software developer Tom Siebel and his wife, Stacey Siebel.
He then heads to Las Vegas. Trump was in the city last month for a brief stop to promote his proposal to end federal taxes on workers’ tips, something that’s expected to especially resonate in the tourist city, where much of the service-based economy includes workers who rely on tips. He announced a new proposal Thursday to end taxes on overtime pay.
Madhani reported from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Colvin from New York. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles, Chris Megerian in Washington, Melissa Goldin in New York and Tom Verdin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
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