By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-28 16:36:21 | Updated at 2025-03-31 10:56:08
2 days ago
A far-right commentator who befriended Donald Trump has not yet been able to convince members of his administration to let her sit in the White House's briefing room.
Laura Loomer, 31, said so in an interview Thursday, weeks after press secretary Karoline Leavitt raised eyebrows with the creation of a 'new media seat' - one located in the front of the press room and previously reserved for press secretary staff.
That was on January 29, and its implementation was seemingly to give a platform to more conservative voices amid concerns the DC press corps leans too liberal.
But Loomer, who turned heads by appearing repeatedly with Trump on his campaign trail, has yet to occupy the seat despite her very high profile.
She told The Bulwark's Will Sommer how despite being one of more than 7,400 to apply the day after the announcement, she has not received a pass - pointing to a string of 'scoops' she said warrants one.
She told Sommers, 'I’m certainly more high-profile than a lot of the other people who have applied,' after several conservative podcasters were invited to the White House Thursday.
'I applied the day the application opened!' she added on X, tagging Leavitt, who had told reporters the seat would be repurposed to welcome 'independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators.'
Loomer, once the Republican nominee to represent Florida's 21st district, fits that criteria in spades - and is now seemingly questioning why her high-powered president friend isn't streamlining the process to snag her a seat.
Trump ally Laura Loomer, 31, has not yet been able to convince members of his administration to let her sit in the White House's briefing room, she said in an interview this week. The two are seen together in August, during the president's campaign
Loomer said so to The Bulwark Thursday, weeks after press secretary Karoline Leavitt raised eyebrows by announcing the creation a 'new media seat'. On Thursday, she welcome several conservative podcasters to The White House for a so-called 'Podcast Row'
'I really hope to get one so I can keep exposing corrupt judges and abuse of taxpayer funds,' Loomer went on, after penning a story this month that led to about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail being pulled.
The move was made by Trump himself, after The New York Post reported Hunter had recently traveled to South Africa with 18 taxpayer-funded Secret Service agents. The report cited Loomer as a source.
'Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer,' Trump wrote on Truth Social early last week, adding how Ashley Biden - Joe Biden's fashion designer daughter - had 13 agents assigned to her as well.
Her Secret Service coverage was stripped as well, Trump said.
Former President Biden extended protection for his family until July as a last-ditch move before leaving office, saying it was because they were being 'subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics.
'Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,' he added, after pardoning son Hunter for tax and gun convictions that would have seen him put in prison.
Secret Service protection for a president's family generally conclude with the politician's presidency, while leaders and their spouses get lifetime protection.
Trump did not mention Loomer when making his decree on March 17, but repeated aspects of the Post report said to have come from her in his post.
Nowhere to be found was Loomer, who traveled with Trump around the world during his campaign this past fall
She's now complaining about not getting a pass - after figures like David Freiheit, a Canadian political commentator with 638,000 subscribers on YouTube, and Breanna Morello, an independent journalist, Natalie Winters, the co-host of Steve Bannon’s 'War Room', did
'There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous!' he raged, after Loomer said she learned of the unverified trip.
'He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.
'Because of this, South Africa has been taken off our list of Countries receiving Economic and Financial Assistance,' the president added, noting, 'Likewise, Ashley Biden, who has 13 agents, will be taken off the list.'
Loomer, meanwhile, told Sommer how she has even gone to White House directly to get into a briefing Thursday
'Leavitt and [White House communications director Steven] Cheung didn’t respond to my requests for comment.'
'Perhaps there’s just a backlog, but it would be an honor,' she speculated on X, as several podcasters with similar political beliefs participated in Podcast Row Thursday, for an event meant to engage alternative media.
'Hey everybody, today is Podcast Row here at the White House and our team has gathered a room full of podcasters with cabinet officials, White House officials who are talking to them about the president and his agenda,” Leavitt said in a video touting the meeting on X, taking shots at other networks as well.
'And I bet you, the people in that room have much more viewers than CNN and the legacy media, just saying,' she laughed. 'We’re proud to welcome them to the White House.'
Trump was widely criticized for traveling with Loomer last fall, largely due to some of her past comments. Aside from celebrating the deaths of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, Loomer has billed herself as a White nationalist while pedaling conspiracy theories
Attendees reportedly included David Freiheit, a Canadian political commentator with 638,000 subscribers on YouTube, and Breanna Morello, an independent journalist who previously worked for Fox and Newsmax.
Natalie Winters, the co-host of Steve Bannon’s “War Room” on Rumble, was also invited, as was NewsNation's Libby Dead,
The guests were able to speak with figures like Robert F Kennedy Jr and Linda McMahon at length, with Loomer left out in the cold.
She wrote this month: “I really want a White House Press pass. Could you imagine what I could help expose with one of those? I really want one.
'@PressSec I applied the day the application opened! I really hope to get one so I can keep exposing corrupt judges and abuse of taxpayer funds.'
This comes after Trump was widely criticized for traveling with Loomer last fall, largely due to some of her past comments.
Aside from celebrating the deaths of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea last year, Loomer has billed herself as a white nationalist, and has pedaled conspiracy theories like Kamala Harris not actually being black.
She gained prominence after being suspended from Barry University in Florida for attempting to create the 'Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria' club., and offered theories that the 2018 Parkland school shooting - where 17 people were killed - was staged.
She also once expressed a desire for Leavitt's job - doing so in 2023
It was reported in April 2023 that Trump was intent on offering Loomer a job, only for the proposition to be met with dismay from his aides.
Months later, Loomer said she was coming for the role Leavitt currently holds - another bid that failed to come to fruition.
'Someday I will be his [Trump’s] Press Secretary,' she wrote at the time. 'I will protect him from all of his enemies and haters.
'They will meet their match in me,' she concluded. '#Trump2024.'
