Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has hit out at a far-right activist who accused her of trying to "undermine" Donald Trump's chances in the 2024 election.
Greene dismissed the claims made by Laura Loomer, an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist who twice ran for congressional office in Florida, after she claimed the Republican and her former office intern Milo Yiannopoulos were working together to sabotage Trump's chances of winning the next presidential election.
Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart editor and alt-right figurehead, is now the campaign manager for hip hop star Kanye West during his latest bid for the White House.
West, who legally changed his name to Ye, recently released a campaign video in which he talks to Yiannopoulos about a meeting the rapper had with Trump at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, along with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
During the clip, West says that Trump was "really impressed" with Fuentes, while the meeting causing outrage among GOP figures and Jewish groups.
In a series of posts on Telegram, Loomer claimed without evidence that Yiannopoulos is still working at Greene's congressional office and is "openly attacking and sabotaging" Trump as West's campaign manager.
In response, Greene also posted a statement on Telegram in which she accused Loomer of "desperately trying to remain relevant" by spreading misinformation about her.
"Sadly, she has chosen to tell lies about me in order to seek attention. Milo doesn't work for me and his unpaid summer internship ended in early August," Greene said.
"Laura Loomer and others like her make a living by keeping you outraged with made up salacious rumors about people like me in our government. Trust me, they know NOTHING!"
Greene, who endorsed Loomer in her unsuccessful 2022 bid to win the GOP primary in Florida's 11th district, added that she hopes the far-right extremist "becomes stable" after having a "tough time" following her second congressional defeat.
"She's lost twice and I've won twice, so I wouldn't know how it feels. But hopefully Laura can stop lying, get her Twitter account back, and return to being a citizen journalist, which I thought she was great at," Greene added.
In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Greene's office also denied the allegations from Loomer, including the claim that Yiannopoulos still works for the Republican as a congressional intern.
"This whole article is based on a lie. Internships are inherently temporary and none of our summer interns are employed with Congresswoman Greene," the spokesperson told Newsweek. "She clearly supports President Trump. She has been very vocal in that and she has endorsed him for president."
In a series of follow-up Telegram posts, Loomer noted that Greene had previously backed the far-right activist, but claimed the congresswoman is now "scared" of her in the wake of Loomer's apparent "expose."
"Interesting how a member of Congress can take the time to post hundreds of words about me personally, but she cannot refute or deny the crux of my claims? That really says it all," Loomer wrote.
Trump has been widely condemned for meeting with the white supremacist Fuentes and West, who has also made a string of antisemitic remarks in recent weeks, at his Florida home.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told Newsweek that Fuentes is one of the most "prominent and unapologetic antisemites in the country" and a "vicious bigot" and West is an "unrepentant antisemite" who is using his platform to spread "noxious hate" about Jews.
"The notion that former President Trump or any serious contender for higher office would meet with either of them, or validate these two figures by sharing a meal and spending time with them, is appalling," Greenblatt said. "You can't say that you oppose hate and then break bread with haters. It's that simple."
Trump defended the meeting by saying he didn't know who Fuentes was when he arrived at Mar-a-Lago with West. The former president has said he was trying to help West as the rapper is a "seriously troubled man" who has been "decimated in his business and virtually everything else."
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
