JD Vance Downplays Laura Loomer’s Racist Remarks, Reiterates Criticism of Immigrant Conspiracy

Senator JD Vance He continued to peddle baseless allegations about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, on Sunday and said he disliked the far-right activist. Laura Loomer‘s racist social media post about Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

When NBC Meeting with the press Kristen Welker Asked about Loomer’s comments, Vance said he only read them this morning because “I knew you would ask me about it.”

“Listen, Kristen,” Vance began, “I make a great chicken curry, I don’t think it’s insulting for anyone to talk about their food preferences or what they want to do in the White House.”

“Do I agree with what Laura Loomer said about Kamala Harris? No, I don’t. I don’t think it’s a national issue either. Is Laura Loomer running for president? No,” he continued. “Kamala Harris is running for president, and whether you’re eating curry at the table or fried chicken, things have gotten more expensive because of her policies.”

In addition to his comments about Harris, Loomer has been in the news this month for his growing influence on Donald TrumpTrump’s presidential campaign saw Loomer among the people Trump took on his private plane en route to Philadelphia for the ABC presidential debate last week. Asked about it, Trump said “a lot” of people travel with him because “it’s a very big plane.” Trump said Loomer is a “free spirit” and a “partisan.”

Trump was also present alongside Loomer at official 9/11 commemorations in New York and Pennsylvania this week. Loomer has promoted the theory that 9/11 was an “insider’s job,” and recently said in a CNN interview, “I have never denied that Islamic terrorists carried out the attacks of 9/11. In fact, the media labels me as anti-Muslim precisely because I spend so much time talking about the threats of Islamic terrorism in America.”

On Sunday, Welker asked Vance about Loomer’s comments and how they relate to his Indian-American wife and potential second lady, Usha Vance.

“Senator, were you and your wife offended and do you disavow these comments that even some Trump allies consider blatantly racist?” Welker asked. “Kristen, I just told you, I don’t like those comments,” Vance replied. “I also don’t go online and find all the things that might offend me.”

Loomer saw Vance on Meeting with the press—and praised the vice-presidential candidate’s responses.

“Vance,” Loomer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “has done a fantastic job as a senator from Ohio, and he has given a voice to the forgotten men and women who want to talk about real issues.”

“Donald Trump and JD Vance are giving these people the opportunity to tell the TRUTH about how they are being replaced by Kamala Harris’s invaders,” she posted, adding, “PS: I hope I get to try the Senator’s chicken curry one of these days.”

Minutes earlier in the interview, Vance had again pressed the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were harming and eating domestic animals and geese.

“A few months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants straining social services and generally causing chaos throughout Springfield, Ohio,” Vance posted on X earlier this week.

“Reports are now showing that pets are being taken and eaten by people who should not be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

So far, xenophobic rumors have been spread by Vance, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirkthe founder and president of Turning Point USA, and Trump himself, to name a few.

At Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, Trump said without any evidence: “In Springfield, they eat the dogs. The people that came. They eat the cats. They eat the pets of the people that live there.”