MAGA influencer Laura Loomer reportedly sharply criticized Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday after comments from his closed-door appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas were leaked to the media.
Vance participated in a private question-and-answer session Monday night with RJC National Chairman Norm Coleman, a former Republican senator from Minnesota.
During the discussion, Vance was asked where he draws the line when associating with podcasters and other conservative influencers who regularly provide platforms to anti-Semites, including Tucker Carlson.
Vance did not directly answer the question about Carlson. Instead, the vice president centered his response on defending why Republicans should engage with figures such as Joe Rogan while drawing a distinction between Rogan and Nick Fuentes.
Loomer, who has frequently criticized Carlson, said she was dissatisfied with Vance’s response. She also argued that making the appearance closed to the press and off the record was a mistake, particularly because such restrictions were unusual for the setting.
“It was a big mistake as I said for the Vice President’s speech to be closed press and off the record,” Loomer wrote on X. “I conveyed this to his team as well.”
Loomer said she was eventually permitted to enter the event and listen to Vance but argued that leaked recordings were inevitable.
“Now there’s bad press when it could have just been a normal on the record talk broadcasted to the public,” she wrote.
Loomer described what she called the “Tucker Carlson dilemma” as an “albatross around the neck” of Vance, regardless of how often the vice president says he opposes the concept of “blood guilt.”
She argued that invoking Rogan or Fuentes failed to address the controversy surrounding Carlson. Loomer alleged that Carlson said the previous week that Jewish people lacked ties to America and appropriated American identity “like a stolen skin suit.”
“We want to hear a strong condemnation of Tucker,” Loomer wrote, adding that while she appreciated Vance attending the event, she had predicted the reaction days earlier.
According to Loomer, a forceful denunciation of Carlson could have completely changed the response to Vance’s appearance.
“It’s not going away,” she warned, accusing Carlson of continually escalating his rhetoric and claiming he was pursuing a third-party effort that could hand the country “over to the left.”
Loomer said she had warned more than a year earlier that Carlson represented a political danger for Vance.
“Tucker is the kiss of death and we can’t dance around it,” she wrote.
Despite her criticism, Loomer acknowledged that Vance received a positive response from portions of the audience. She said some attendees gave him a standing ovation.
Loomer also noted that the Israeli ambassador and Sen. Jim Banks made positive comments about Vance before he spoke.
The vice president additionally received substantial applause for remarks connecting increased immigration with rising anti-Semitism, according to Loomer.
