RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — Donald Trump refused on Friday to weigh in on recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to the debate and several 9/11 memorial events.
“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.
“I don’t control Laura,” Trump said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do. She’s a supporter.”
Trump said Loomer has “strong opinions,” but said 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.
Loomer's appearances on the campaign trail with Trump have alarmed many top supporters of the former president who worry he is hurting his chances of winning in November, particularly as Harris has driven up Democratic enthusiasm and repeatedly put Trump on the defensive in Tuesday's debate. Harris was campaigning Friday across Pennsylvania.
Loomer's comments have drawn rebuke from Trump allies including Republican firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia congresswoman, herself known for spreading conspiracies, called the post about curry “appalling and extremely racist" and said it did not represent Trump's movement.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., called Loomer “a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans. A DNC plant couldn’t do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough.”
Trump's comments came at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf club after days of criticism of his performance at this week's debate.
Trump, in remarks, unleashed against Harris a litany of attacks his aides had suggested he would focus on during the debate, including accusing her of having been soft on crime in her previous positions.
Before she served as vice president, Harris represented California in the Senate and also served as the state’s attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco.
“She destroyed San Francisco and she destroyed the state,” Trump charged. He also assailed the ABC anchors who moderated the debate. He'll travel later Friday to northern California for a fundraiser, followed by a rally in Las Vegas, the largest city in swing state Nevada.
Harris has not publicly addressed Trump’s association with Loomer. But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week called Loomer’s comments “repugnant.”
“No leader should ever associate with someone who spreads this kind of ugliness, this kind of racist poison,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Harris headed to Johnstown and Wilkes-Barre on Friday, campaigning in counties where Trump won in 2016 and 2020, as she tries to capitalize on her momentum after Tuesday night’s debate.
In Johnstown, she dropped in to meet with owners and supporters at Classic Elements, a bookstore and cafe, to discuss her plans to support small businesses if elected.
“Small businesses are so much part of the fabric of a community,” she told the shop owners. Harris said she would be in the state a lot and that “we got to earn every vote.”
It was her second day of back-to-back rallies after holding two events in North Carolina, another swing state, on Thursday. Her campaign is aiming to hit every market in every battleground state over four days, with stops by Harris, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and other surrogates in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.
While speaking in Charlotte, Harris took a victory lap for her debate performance in which she needled Trump and kept him on the defensive. Recounting one moment while campaigning in North Carolina, she mocked Trump for saying he had “concepts of a plan” for replacing the Affordable Care Act.
“Concepts. Concepts. No actual plan. Concepts,” she said as the crowd roared with laughter.
Her campaign said she raised $47 million from 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her debate with Trump.
After appearing at his golf club in upscale Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump will head to 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. Tom Siebel is the second cousin once removed of Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and surrogate for Harris.
Attendees will pay at least $3,300 per person or raise $10,000 for the campaign, according to an invitation. Top-tier donors will get a photo, reception and roundtable, paying $500,000 for a couple to be on the host committee or $150,000 per person to be a co-host.
It’s Trump's second fundraising stop in California in as many days as he tries to make up fundraising ground against Harris.
Even before she raked in cash after the debate, the vice president reported raising $361 million in August from nearly 3 million donors, her first full month as a candidate after replacing President Joe Biden. Trump brought in $130 million over the same period. Harris’ campaign reported that it started September with $109 million more on hand than Trump’s did.
On Friday night, Trump heads to Las Vegas, where he’ll have a rally in the city’s downtown area. 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.
The swing state is one that Trump narrowly lost in 2016 and 2020 and is among about half a dozen that both campaigns are heavily focused on.
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Madhani reported from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and Colvin from New York. Associated Press writers Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles, Chris Megerian in Washington and Tom Verdin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani And Jill Colvin, The Associated Press