Republican lawmakers repeatedly refused to condemn racist attacks by Laura Loomer, an adviser to President Donald Trump, on two of their own colleagues and a Supreme Court justice.
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Zeteo News reporter Prem Thakker stopped six House Republicans in a Capitol hallway to ask about the attacks, according to video he posted Wednesday.
Loomer had spent the previous days on X attacking five Black women in American politics, including two sitting House members and a Supreme Court justice, Reuters reported.
Thakker began with Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), telling him Loomer “has advised Donald Trump in the past” before repeating what she had called his colleagues, according to the video.
“No. I have no idea who’s talking about,” Owens said. “Sorry.”
The congressman tried to quickly walk away as the reporter pressed the point.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, buddy. I’m not gonna — I’m not gonna —” he said before disappearing.
Loomer had visited the White House four times since Trump returned to office, the Post reported, though she holds no formal role there.
That access is what separates Loomer’s posts from ordinary online invective, and last week she turned them on five Black women in public life.
“These women are all ghetto, entitled, race-obsessed, destructive black BITCHES who are completely unfit for the power they hold,” Loomer wrote in a post on X, according to USA Today.
“Angie Nixon is a ghetto, black, communist,” Loomer wrote in a follow-up post the next Monday, Reuters reported.
Thakker pushed at least six Republicans to condemn Loomer’s comments in the Capitol hallway on Wednesday
“I haven’t heard those,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) said when asked about the comments, according to the video.
“I’m not gonna comment on anything that I have not heard directly,” Edwards added after Thakker asked whether he would condemn such comments generally.
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“I don’t comment on stuff I didn’t see,” Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) said before the reporter pressed again. “I just told you. I don’t comment on stuff like that.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) also stopped short of condemning Loomer.
“I have not seen those comments, so I wouldn’t be able to comment. Who is she referencing?” Luna (R-FL) asked.
Thakker named Bush, Omar, Jackson and Nixon, telling Luna the targets included a Supreme Court justice and a Senate candidate, the video shows.
“Yeah. I honestly don’t, uh, agree with those,” Luna said as she walked away.
Two other members responded to the question by asking who Thakker worked for, according to the video.
“Okay. No comment. I’m not gonna interview with you, but thank you,” Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) said.
“Who are you?” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) asked instead of answering the question.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he added, stepping into a restricted elevator.
Loomer had visited the White House four times since Trump returned to office, the Post reported, though she holds no formal role there. That access is what separates Loomer’s posts from ordinary online invective, and last week she turned them on five Black women in public life.
“These women are all ghetto, entitled, race-obsessed, destructive black BITCHES who are completely unfit for the power they hold,” Loomer wrote in a post on X, according to USA Today. “Angie Nixon is a ghetto, black, communist.”
Democratic leaders had no trouble finding words for the same posts days earlier.
“Stone-cold racist” was how House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) described Loomer, Reuters reported.
“Anti-Black racism goes unchecked,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said of the episode, according to Reuters.
Neither Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL), who faces Nixon in November, nor Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is running for governor, had rebuked Loomer, USA Today reported.
“Whenever Republicans are asked about a Twitch streamer’s comments (ones they obviously did not see), they have entire monologues set to go,” Thakker wrote on X after posting the video. “When asked about 1850s-level racist comments from a top ally to the President, it’s ‘I did not, and will never, see those comments.'”
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