- Trump addressed the media at his Los Angeles golf club overlooking the Pacific.
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Donald Trump claimed to have no idea about the growing controversy surrounding conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer as he faced questions about why he allowed a woman who said 9/11 was an inside job to travel with him to memorial events this week.
Loomer has become a regular presence at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home despite her outlandish views, and this week she made racist comments about Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris.
But at a news conference at his Los Angeles golf club overlooking the Pacific Ocean on Friday, Trump declined to criticize her.
“I don’t control Laura,” he said. “I can’t tell her what to do. She supports me.”
Instead, he called her a “free spirit” and claimed to know nothing about a post in which a supporter said “the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated through a call center” if Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, won the election.
Former President Donald Trump broke his silence on Laura Loomer at a press conference
Trump spoke to reporters for more than an hour, once again lashing out at debate moderators, criticizing California political leaders and targeting Haitian immigrants.
But most of the questions were about Loomer, a 31-year-old far-right activist.
Her presence on Trump’s private jet has alarmed many of the former president’s allies who believe she is hurting his chances of winning new voters.
He ignored questions about why she flew on his plane this week to a 9/11 event in Pennsylvania and the Flight 93 memorial, even though she once said the attack on the Twin Towers was an inside job.
“A lot of people do it,” he said. “It’s a very big plane.”
Instead, he said he was unaware of her history of controversial comments and promised to read her comments and issue a statement.
Loomer is so far removed from even fringe Republicans that people like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has promoted her own conspiracy theories, have called her “extremely racist” for her curry comment.
Trump also took the opportunity to launch an attack on Harris, mentioning some of the phrases his aides thought he would use during the debate.
He focused on his record in California, where he served as attorney general and before that as district attorney of San Francisco.
Laura Loomer arrives with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump for a visit to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville
She also traveled with him this week to the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
Trump spoke to reporters overlooking the Pacific Ocean at his Los Angeles golf club
“She destroyed San Francisco and she destroyed the state,” he said.
After the event at his golf club, he plans to attend a fundraiser hosted by billionaire software developer Tom Siebel and his wife Stacey.
Tickets start at $3,000 and go up to $500,000 for a couple who will serve on the event’s host committee in the Bay Area town of Woodside.
Trump is trying to catch up with Harris, who has had a fundraising bonanza since entering the race in late July.
The two are locked in a tight battle. The DailyMail.com/JL Partners electoral model gives the former president a 55 percent chance of victory with less than two months to go.
Both candidates have been campaigning since the debate in key states, arguing that they had the best night of debate.
Trump was in Arizona on Thursday and did not apologize for appearing angry.
Trump held the news conference ahead of a fundraiser and rally in Las Vegas later Friday.
“People were saying I was angry about the debate, angry,” he told a raucous crowd in Tucson.
“I was angry, and yes, I am angry that she allowed 21 million illegal immigrants to invade our communities. Many of them are criminals.”
And he unveiled another populist economic measure, promising to abolish the tax on overtime.
“Do you know what that means? I think it gives people more incentive to work,” he said.
‘It gives a lot to companies… it’s much easier to get people.’
Critics will wonder how he plans to pay for it without increasing the national debt.