Laura Loomer’s honeymoon phase as a fixture of President Donald Trump’s inner circle appears to be waning.
The far-right conspiracy theorist has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in Trump’s orbit in the first months of his second term, with her MAGA-loyalty background checks prompting the president to oust scores of officials from his administration.
But White House officials are unnerved by the attention Loomer is getting and have tried to play down the incendiary activist’s sway over Trump, according to a Financial Times report.
“Her influence is vastly overstated,” one person familiar with the White House’s thinking told FT, likening Loomer, 32, to a “fly that keeps getting in your face and keeps coming back, no matter how much you swat it away.”
The person also threw cold water on Loomer’s ongoing crusade against Pam Bondi, telling FT that although Loomer might have claimed the “scalps” of a few officials, the embattled attorney general remains out of her reach.
Loomer, who operates her own loyalty screening operation— digging for any sliver of anti-MAGA sentiment among prospective and current administration members, shot back at her critics in the White House, accusing them of “professional jealousy.”
“It’s pretty incredible that as a civilian I’m uncovering this information without any funding or any type of government clearance,” Loomer told FT, “and yet people who work for the president continue to drop the ball as it relates to . . . vetting.”
Trump, 79, has met with Loomer in the Oval Office and fired more than a dozen of her targets since March, though he tried to minimize her power, saying he listens to her recommendations “sometimes”.
Earlier this month, the president gushed about the self-described Islamophobe and 9/11 truther, who has frequently clashed with other Trump allies such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, calling her a “very nice person”.
However, the limit of Loomer’s sway in his administration was recently revealed by her failed bid to get Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired—or as she calls it, “Loomered.”
Vinay Prasad, a top regulator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, was initially pushed to resign by Trump in late July at the urging of Loomer, who dug up his old anti-MAGA posts.
To her dismay, Prasad was given his job back only a few days later, apparently thanks to the intervention of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
And in June, she was blocked from the VIP section of the Kennedy Center where Trump and his wife Melania were set to watch a performance of Les Misérables.
The self-styled journalist has also tried and failed to acquire a White House press pass, according to FT.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Loomer and the White House for comment.
