Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, we explore how far-right activist Laura Loomer’s access to Donald Trump is worrying his Republican allies. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker dives into the questions Kamala Harris and Trump danced around at the debate.
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Far-right activist Laura Loomer’s access to Trump reveals a crisis in his campaign
By Jonathan Allen, Julie Tsirkin and Vaughn Hillyard
No one can keep former President Donald Trump away from Laura Loomer — much to the chagrin of Republicans from across the political spectrum.
Throughout the campaign, aides and advisers have done their best to shield him from Loomer, a far-right social media influencer, and similar figures who stroke his ego and stoke his basest political instincts.
They lost that battle this week, as Loomer traveled on Trump’s jet to his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday and to Sept. 11 memorial services Wednesday. The latter appearance infuriated some Democrats and Republicans because she has promoted conspiracy theories about the terrorist attack on the U.S.
Fighting is a big part of Loomer’s allure for Trump. Loomer advocates as fiercely for him as she does for theories on the political fringe, like the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio. Trump promoted that during Tuesday’s debate.
Her presence reflects Trump’s loss of faith in his campaign aides and their concomitant fear of upsetting him in a time of crisis, according to people familiar with the situation. And it has drawn vocal criticism from members of his party who don’t always see eye to eye.
One one side of the GOP, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Thursday that Loomer is “really toxic” and shouldn’t be in Trump’s circle. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina on Friday called Loomer “a crazy conspiracy theorist” who was hurting Trump’s chances in the election.
And on the other side, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called out a social media post from Loomer — which stated that a win by Harris, who is Indian American and Black, would mean “the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center” — as “appalling and extremely racist” and one that doesn’t represent Trump. (Loomer clapped back against all three on X.)
A Republican senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering his party’s nominee, said Trump is endangering his chances of winning — and so are the staff members who aren’t playing gatekeeper.
“Everybody’s stunned that he would bring her down on his plane to the debate but even more stunned that she would be riding with him on the 9/11 anniversary. That kind of stuff will create a distraction you can’t overcome,” the senator said.
For his part, Trump defended Loomer on Friday. “I don’t control Laura. Laura — she’s a, she’s a free spirit. Well, I don’t know. I mean, look, I can’t tell Laura what to do,” he said.
How a fringe online claim about immigrants eating pets made its way to the debate stage
By Henry J. Gomez, Brandy Zadrozny, Allan Smith and Julie Tsirkin
Chances are for most Americans, the debate was the first they had heard of the unsubstantiated and racially charged rumor that Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs.
But the false claim was already thriving in right-wing corners of the internet prior to Tuesday and being amplified by those close to Trump other than Loomer, including running mate JD Vance.
No one involved in Trump’s debate preparations or in a position to speak for his campaign agreed to discuss the strategy on the record or answer questions about how it mutated from a fringe obsession to a debate stage sound bite.
The issue in Springfield, about 45 miles from Columbus in southwest Ohio, involves thousands of Haitian immigrants who have settled in the city in recent years, many of them there legally under federal programs after having fled violence and political turmoil. Residents and political leaders, including Vance, have for months raised economic and public safety concerns, asserting that an influx of as many as 20,000 immigrants to a city that in 2020 counted a population of 59,000 has strained resources.
Claims about pets being abducted, slaughtered and eaten are more recent.
Blood Tribe, a national neo-Nazi group, was among the early purveyors of the rumor in August, posting about it on Gab and Telegram, social networks popular with extremists. While the group’s leader has taken credit for Trump’s indulgence of the claims, Blood Tribe’s reach is unknown; its accounts on those sites have fewer than 1,000 followers.
The rumor soon crossed over to mainstream social media, like Facebook and X. NewsGuard, a firm that monitors misinformation, traced the origins to an undated post from a private Facebook group that was shared in a screenshot posted to X on Sept. 5.
Real-world impact: Bomb threats on Friday forced the evacuation and closure of public schools and municipal buildings for a second consecutive day in Springfield, Ohio. Read more →
The debate questions Trump and Harris didn’t answer
By Kristen Welker
In the first — and now likely only — debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the questions they didn’t answer were in many ways just as revealing as the ones they did.
It started off with the very first question of the debate to Harris: Are Americans better off today than they were four years ago?
Harris responded by mentioning her proposals for tax deductions for small businesses and for a $6,000 child tax credit. She also attacked Trump on proposing tariffs and tax cuts for the wealthy. But she didn’t directly answer if Americans are better off than they were four years ago, despite plenty of economic statistics suggesting they are.
Later in the debate, Trump was asked if he would veto a federal abortion ban if it reached his desk — something running mate JD Vance said on “Meet the Press” that Trump would do.
ABC News’ Linsey Davis: But if I could just get a yes or no. Because your running mate JD Vance has said that you would veto if it did come to your desk.
Trump: Well, I didn’t discuss it with JD. In all fairness, JD — and I don’t mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me, but I really didn’t.
Translation: Trump sidestepped the question — and threw Vance under the bus in the process.
Trump also didn’t answer other questions on whether he regretted anything about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, if he had a plan to replace Obamacare (“I have concepts of a plan,” he replied), and if he wanted Ukraine to win its war with Russia — which he was asked twice.
ABC News’ David Muir: Your time is up. Just to clarify the question, do you believe it’s in the U.S.’s best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?
Trump: I think it’s in the U.S.’s best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.
For her part, Harris ducked other questions on whether she’d do anything differently on immigration than President Joe Biden, and if she and the Biden administration bear responsibility for the U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan after the withdrawal there.
On Afghanistan, Harris said she agreed with Biden’s decision to withdraw: “Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did,” she said. And she criticized the deal the Trump administration cut with the Taliban: “Donald Trump, when he was president, negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine,” she said.
But she didn’t answer whether she bore responsibility for the way the deadly withdrawal played out.
With a second debate between the two candidates up in the air, it will be up to reporters to go after these questions. Whether voters get answers is up to the candidates themselves.
🗞️ Today’s top stories
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📝 What’s the plan? As Harris pivots to the center, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about what policies she wants to pursue if elected. Read more →
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👷 Working 9-5, and then some: Trump said at a campaign rally that he would eliminate taxes on overtime pay. Read more →
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✝️ Papal declaration: Pope Francis said believes Trump and Harris “are both against life” and urged citizens to vote for whomever they consider the “lesser of two evils.” Read more →
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👀 Coming attractions: The Justice Department plans to file criminal charges in the hacking of Trump’s presidential campaign. Read more →
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✈️ On strike: Boeing factory workers in Oregon and the Seattle area are striking after overwhelmingly rejecting a new labor contract. Read more →
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⚖️ Headed to trial: Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit against Newsmax over the 2020 election is headed to trial later this month. Read more →
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🚀 To infinity and beyond: The two American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station through February said they plan to vote in the November election from space. Read more →
That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
