Laura Loomer

Laura Elizabeth Loomer is a conservative political activist and a reporter for Canada's The Rebel Media. Prior to June 2017 she worked for Project Veritas with James O'Keefe.

Early life

Loomer was raised in Arizona by a Jewish father who taught her to identify as “ethnically, culturally and politically Jewish”, as a youngster Loomer was teased for being overweight and for having a “Jewish nose”; after high school Loomer attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, but left after just one semester for feeling targeted for being conservative, claiming she ate every single meal by herself; Loomer later transferred to Barry University in Miami, Florida.

Career

Loomer is a former employee of conservative activist James O'Keefe, who is known for selectively edited undercover video investigations. Loomer is the New York correspondent for the conservative Canadian news site The Rebel Media, nicknamed The Rebel, that has been referred to as the “Canadian Breitbart.”

Barry University stunt

In March 2015, Loomer used a concealed video camera to record her conversations with Barry University officials, on the concept of starting a club called “Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria;” the school allegedly responded asking she instead change the name to “Students in Support of the Middle East,” the video of her encounter was released by James O'Keefe with Project Veritas.

Her video allegedly captured a university official "unfazed" at the notion of starting an on-campus organization that would support ISIS. Shortly after the edited video was released by O'Keefe, Loomer was suspended by Barry University for violating student code of conduct rules; criminal charges were also filed against her for taping university officials without their knowledge or consent. At the time, Loomer was an honors student in her senior year, the president of Barry University's Young Republicans Club, and majoring in communications.

Julius Caesar play disruption

On June 16, 2017, Loomer disrupted the Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar in New York City, by walking on stage during the live performance shortly after Caesar was assassinated. Before being escorted off the stage by security, Loomer shouted “Stop the normalization of political violence against the right! This is unacceptable!”. The play portrayed a "Trump-like" Caesar with a Slovenian-accented wife. Loomer, who is pro-Trump, was arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing. The Public Theater responded by saying although they're "champions" of the First Amendment, the disruption was caused by "social media". On June 19, 2017, The Washington Post reported they didn't believe Loomer was genuinely offended by the play, that she disrupted it for attention and to collect a $1,000 bounty that was offered, to anyone who would disrupt the production. On June 20, 2017, The Daily Beast reported that ‘Free Laura', a website for soliciting donations for her arrest, was purchased by Loomer's employer Ezra Levant, the owner of The Rebel Media, six hours before the play started, according to domain records. Loomer was also promoting separately a WeSearchr page for donations, that had received $12,385 from 241 contributors, receiving more money in donations than the normal penalties for the charges she was facing.

On June 19, 2017, as a guest on Fox News Hannity, Loomer admitted she knew disrupting the Shakespeare in the Park play would result in criminal charges against her, during the interview Loomer compared the "Trump-like" Caesar assassination to a May 2017 video of former CNN host Kathy Griffin holding a mask of a bloody severed head of President Donald Trump, Loomer called the Caesar play and the Griffin video "assassination porn" and accused the "left" of a systematic pattern of using free speech and art as a pretext to promote violence against President Donald Trump and the "right".

Other activities

Infiltration of Clinton campaign

In August 2015, Time reported Loomer and two women posing as Allison Holmes, Jess Koski, and Jess Jones, infiltrated the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in July, 2015, attempting to lure Clinton's interns into voter-election schemes that were illegal; Loomer was later identified in photographs shown to the Clinton campaign as one of the three women, it was unclear if the Clinton campaign did anything improper or illegal.

Huma Abedin stunt

On November 8, 2016, the day of the national election, Loomer strolled into a polling station dressed in a burqa and asked for a ballot under the name of Huma Abedin.

Anti-Sharia rally

In June 2017, Loomer gave a speech to a crowd of anti-sharia marchers in New York City and condemned “liberals who aligned themselves with sharia law”. Loomer put a burqa on the Fearless Girl statue adjacent to the Merrill Lynch building.

Chelsea Clinton book signing

On June 7, 2017, at a Chelsea Clinton book signing event in New York City, Loomer asked Chelsea to sign a copy of her new children's book "She Persisted" to Juanita Broaddrick, one of former President Bill Clinton's most persistent accusers. The former first daughter refused to sign it.

Tire Replacement

On August 2, 2017 Laura's tire was slashed. She did not hit a lot hole, it was slashed. It has since been replaced.

External links

• Laura Loomer rushes stage [1] ibtimes.com