Former Trump staffer: Laura Loomer's close association with Trump shows how “terrifying” a second term would be

Sarah Matthews: “In a second administration, you're gonna get the Laura Loomers of the world who are in his ear, who are the ones helping run the country”

Written by Media Matters Staff

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Laura Loomer's closeness to former president Donald Trump has come under increasing scrutiny after she traveled with him to both Pennsylvania and New York recently. The two have a long history of mutual praise, with Trump calling Loomer “a free spirit” and Loomer bragging days ago that, “Donald Trump likes me. Donald Trump trusts me.” Donald Trump, Jr., who is on Trump's official transition team, has said he would “love to see” Laura Loomer as a Trump White House press secretary in a second term; Loomer is on record saying she would “gladly” serve in the role. Loomer has described herself as “pro-white nationalism” and has a history of extremist conspiracy theories.

From the September 15, 2024, edition of MSNBC's Inside With Jen Psaki

JEN PSAKI (HOST): Joining me now is Sarah Matthews. She served as the deputy press secretary during the Trump administration. Okay, Sarah. None of us are surprised anymore by a lot of things Trump does, but help us understand how somebody who is a conspiracy theorist, who's a 9/11 truther, who says all the things that we've been talking about in this show, goes from that — for a fringy person — to being on the plane to the debate and kind of in in the unofficial inner circle of Donald Trump.

SARAH MATTHEWS (GUEST): Well, I think you are the company and this just goes to show what his character and judgment is if this is who he's choosing to surround himself with. I mean, Americans at home might not be familiar with Laura Loomer. She's not necessarily a mainstream name, but she is as fringe as fringe gets. And that is what is so scary is that now she has the ear of the potential next president. And to think that he even brought her to a 9/11 memorial event last week, this is someone who just last year was saying that 9/11 was an inside job.

And that's just one of the many conspiracy theories that she's pushed. She said a lot of other disgusting, vile things that I wouldn't even repeat on air— in particular about the vice president, Kamala Harris. And to think then that this is who Donald Trump is keeping in his inner circle is really concerning.

PSAKI: No question about it. What is appealing about her to him? Is that — is it that she is complimenting him? Is it more than that?

MATTHEWS: I think that she's willing to defend anything that he says or does, and he likes that. She's the ultimate sycophant. And so I think that he likes that she'll defend him. She's clearly angling for some sort of job in the administration, I would imagine. Maybe she wants to be White House press secretary.

PSAKI: She's posted about that before.

MATTHEWS: And that is what is most concerning to me because I've talked about this threat of who will be with Donald Trump if he is elected president again? Who will be staffing a second administration? I like to think that during the first administration, you had people of good character who wanted to staff him and would push back on him. But in a second administration, you're gonna get the Laura Loomers of the world who are in his ear, who are the ones helping run the country. I mean, to think that she would be in the White House potentially and serving in one of the most important roles, and she's clearly a known liar, she pushes conspiracy theories, and her job could potentially be being the spokesperson for the president.

It's terrifying. And so that is what — when I talk about the threat of a second Trump administration, this is the kind of thing we're referring to. And so it's not crazy to think that he's gonna be surrounding himself with these crazy types of people who will be a bunch of yes men and women, say and do whatever he pleases.