Difference between revisions of "Laura Loomer"
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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. | 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. | ||
| − | Although Barry University is a private university, on May 22, 2019, a suit by Project Veritas established that "prohibit[ing] the secret audio recording of government officials", which would include a public university's officials, was unconstitutional, | + | Although Barry University is a private university, on May 22, 2019, a suit by Project Veritas established that "prohibit[ing] the secret audio recording of government officials", which would include a public university's officials, was unconstitutional, as ruled by a U. S. Federal judge in the district of Massachusetts. |
===''Julius Caesar'' play disruption=== | ===''Julius Caesar'' play disruption=== | ||
Revision as of 21:24, June 5, 2019
Laura Elizabeth Loomer is a conservative political activist and a former reporter for Canada's The Rebel Media. Prior to June 2017 she worked for Project Veritas with James O'Keefe.
Contents
Early life
Loomer was raised in Arizona by a Jewish father. After high school, Loomer attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, but left after just one semester for feeling targeted for being conservative. 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 undercover video investigations. Loomer was the New York correspondent for the conservative Canadian news site The Rebel Media, that has been referred to as the “Canadian Breitbart.”
Notable activities
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.
Although Barry University is a private university, on May 22, 2019, a suit by Project Veritas established that "prohibit[ing] the secret audio recording of government officials", which would include a public university's officials, was unconstitutional, as ruled by a U. S. Federal judge in the district of Massachusetts.
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 the character, Caesar, dressed similarly to Trump, 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, calling 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".
Infiltration of Clinton campaign
In August 2015, Time Magazine 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 and was assaulted by a man wanting to remove the burqa.
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 Bill Clinton sexual misconduct allegations. The former first daughter refused to sign it.
Chris Cuomo video ambush
On July 6, 2017, Loomer video ambushed CNN host Chris Cuomo on the sidewalk as he left CNN headquarters in Manhattan, regarding a CNN report of an anonymous Reddit user who was the original source of a wrestling video meme retweet by President Donald Trump, a GIF of Trump body-slamming and punching WWE Vince McMahon whose head was replaced by a CNN logo; after the encounter with Cuomo, Loomer complained on Twitter that he "just slammed the door of his fancy black service car on me" after asking him if "@CNNmemes" are free speech with Loomer adding "video soon", the video shows Cuomo fielding accusatory questions from Loomer before getting into a hired SUV.
Social media censorship
In May 2019, Facebook and its Instagram subsidiary banned Loomer and several other high-profile conservatives from using the company's services.
