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| Trump fires national security officials after far-right activist Laura Loomer urged him to in meeting – report | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Loomer reportedly presented Trump with opposition research on national security council officials at Oval Office | Loomer reportedly presented Trump with opposition research on national security council officials at Oval Office |
| Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist and Islamophobic former Republican congressional candidate banned from Uber, Paypal and some social media platforms, has apparently been successful in pushing the White House to fire national security staffers for disloyalty. | |
| The New York Times first reported that Loomer, notorious for promoting racism and 9/11 conspiracy theories, was spotted in a meeting on Wednesday where she reportedly presented Trump with opposition research on national security council officials during a 30-minute Oval Office meeting. | |
| Those sources told the Times that Trump may act on some of Loomer’s recommendations, with the activist reportedly criticising officials directly in front of their boss, the embattled national security adviser, Michael Waltz – who created a group chat on Signal with top officials that led to a massive national security leak ahead of impending deadly strikes in Yemen. | |
| The White House reportedly fired at least three NSC staffers involved in the Signal leak debacle. Senior director of intelligence Brian Walsh, senior director for legislative affairs Thomas Boodry and a senior director overseeing tech and national security, David Feith, have all been let go post-meeting, CNN reports. | |
| The meeting comes at a concerning time for Waltz, who has faced widespread criticism after the Atlantic broke the story that he inadvertently added the magazine’s editor-in-chief to a Signal messaging group discussing sensitive details of a military strike in Yemen. | |
| Waltz and his team have created at least 20 different group chats on Signal to coordinate sensitive national security work, according to Politico, and the Washington Post reports that Waltz’s team has been conducting government business through personal Gmail accounts. | Waltz and his team have created at least 20 different group chats on Signal to coordinate sensitive national security work, according to Politico, and the Washington Post reports that Waltz’s team has been conducting government business through personal Gmail accounts. |
| Vice-President JD Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and communications director Steven Cheung also reportedly attended the get-together ahead of the “liberation day” event at the Rose Garden. The Pennsylvania representative Scott Perry, a key Trump ally in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, joined with his own list of staffing concerns. | |
| Loomer has recently targeted deputy national security adviser Alex Wong on social media, questioning his loyalty because his wife worked as a justice department lawyer during Democratic administrations. She baselessly claimed Wong deliberately added the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to the sensitive chat “as part of a foreign opp to embarrass the Trump administration on behalf of China”. | |
| Additionally, Loomer has been very vocal on social media over the course of the Trump presidency, especially during the White House’s botched delivery of the Jeffrey Epstein files – a move that not only upset her for its contents but because she wasn’t invited to the ceremony. | Additionally, Loomer has been very vocal on social media over the course of the Trump presidency, especially during the White House’s botched delivery of the Jeffrey Epstein files – a move that not only upset her for its contents but because she wasn’t invited to the ceremony. |
| During the 2024 campaign, Loomer made inroads with the Trump team and at one point was traveling on his plane, before Trump began to distance himself. In that period, Loomer made numerous inflammatory statements, including that “the White House will smell like curry” if Kamala Harris were elected – a racist reference to Harris’s Indian heritage. | During the 2024 campaign, Loomer made inroads with the Trump team and at one point was traveling on his plane, before Trump began to distance himself. In that period, Loomer made numerous inflammatory statements, including that “the White House will smell like curry” if Kamala Harris were elected – a racist reference to Harris’s Indian heritage. |
| She also spread unfounded claims that Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s wife had fabricated her breast cancer diagnosis. | She also spread unfounded claims that Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s wife had fabricated her breast cancer diagnosis. |