


Several senior members of the council that advises President Donald Trump on matters of national security and foreign policy have been fired, apparently on the advice of far-right conspiracist Laura Loomer.
Sources told The New York Times Loomer met with Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday, where she implored him to fire a number of National Security Council staffers she believed to be disloyal.
Trump appeared to follow through on the advice Thursday and fired at least three senior officials.
According to CNN, the three officials include Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence and former staffer for now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, a senior director overseeing technology and national security.
An unnamed source confirmed the firings to Axios and described it as a “bloodbath,” with potentially up to 10 senior staffers being fired.
The staffers’ boss, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, also attended the meeting on Wednesday, where he was usurped by Loomer.
Waltz was already in a tenuous position with Trump, having mistakenly added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic to a group chat where highly senior members of the Trump administration discussed upcoming plans to bomb Yemen.
Loomer attempted to excuse Waltz from the group text fiasco during the meeting by blaming the senior national security staffers, per the Times, who she claimed did it “on purpose as part of a foreign opp to embarrass the Trump administration on behalf of China.”
Former Trump White House press aide Sarah Matthews said last year that Loomer is “as fringe as fringe gets.”
The conspiratorial podcast host has previously described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and “pro-white nationalism.” Her presence alongside Trump on the campaign trail last year raised alarm among Republicans, including former Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway and even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Loomer was in Trump’s posse on Sept. 11, 2024 — despite sharing a video that claimed “9/11 was an Inside Job!” She’s also previously claimed that the 2018 Parkland High School shooting victims were crisis actors.