Former President Donald Trump was bombarded with panicked phone calls after he chose to appear with a controversial right-wing influencer at a 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero, a report claimed Saturday.
Multiple Trump camp insiders told The Atlantic writer Tim Alberta that the appearance triggered all spheres of Trump supporters.
“After the cameras showed Loomer standing near Trump at Ground Zero, the former president’s own phone lit up,” Alberta wrote.
“For the rest of the day, friends and associates and donors dialed his number with a manic urgency.”
Loomer, a Trump ally considered a loose cannon by many in the Republican Party, traveled the country on the campaign trail with him in early September. On 9/11, she appeared by his side as he stood with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and many other officials at the solemn ceremony.
Among many controversial things Loomer has said is a belief she has shared that 9/11 was an "inside job.” She has referred to herself as a “proud Islamophobe.”
“Some read him old tweets that Loomer had sent,” Alberta wrote, describing the phone calls.
“Others demanded that whoever let this woman aboard the plane be fired. Senator Lindsey Graham asked Trump if he was trying to lose the election.
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“To all of this Trump pleaded ignorance. He began complaining to aides that nobody had ever explained to him, specifically, why Loomer was so toxic.”
The aides shared with Trump some of her posts.
“Trump winced at some and seemed unaffected by others. But he agreed, by the end of the trip, that Loomer needed to go,” Alberta wrote.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Alberta, “Laura was a hard worker in the primaries and President Trump appreciates a fighter.”