The presence of right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer at Donald Trump’s side in the election campaign has also raised questions among some Republicans in recent days about what influence the controversial former congressional candidate might have on him.

Ms Loomer is known for her anti-Islam rhetoric and for spreading conspiracy theories. Among other things, she claims that the September 11 attacks were an “inside job” of the US government.

Together with Trump, she attended an event on Wednesday to commemorate the attacks, which caused a stir and outrage in some US media.

And on Tuesday, the 31-year-old traveled on board Trump’s plane to Philadelphia to take part in the presidential debate.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of that debate was when Trump repeated the baseless claim that illegal immigrants from Haiti were eating pets in a small Ohio town. “They’re eating the pets of the people who live there,” he said.

City officials later told BBC Verify that there were “no credible reports” that this had actually happened.

Trump said he was repeating claims he had heard on television, yet the baseless theory was aired by Ms Loomer just a day before the debate. On Monday, the fringe pundit and social media influencer repeated the baseless claims to her 1.2 million followers on X.

While the degree of Ms. Loomer’s access to Trump is unclear, and his running mate JD Vance also spread the unfounded theoryMs. Loomer’s post and her presence in Philadelphia have led some Republicans to blame her for the former president making this baseless claim on stage.

An anonymous source close to Trump’s campaign team told the US news channel Semafor that they were “100 percent” concerned about Ms. Loomer’s proximity to Trump.

“Despite all the guardrails the Trump campaign has put in place, I don’t think it will work,” the source was quoted as saying.

However, another source told the outlet that Ms. Loomer had not interfered in the debate preparations and that she was a “positive person to be around.”

Dennis Lennox, a Republican consultant, was much more blunt in his criticism of Trump’s debate performance and of Ms. Loomer. “This is what happens when you improvise, live in the Fox News-X bubble and rely on Matt Gaetz, not to mention Laura Loomer,” he told Semafor.

Ms Loomer did not respond to several BBC requests for comment.

However, on X, formerly Twitter, she said she was acting “independently” to help Trump, whom she called “truly our nation’s last hope.”

“The answer to the many reporters calling me and obsessively asking me to speak to them today is no,” she wrote. “I am very busy working on my stories and research and do not have time to deal with your conspiracy theories.”

Born in Arizona in 1993, the self-proclaimed investigative journalist has worked as an activist and commentator for organizations such as Project Veritas and Alex Jones’ Infowars.

In 2020, she ran – with Trump’s support – as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida, but lost to Democrat Lois Frankel.

Two years later, she tried again when she unsuccessfully ran in a Republican primary in another Florida district to oust Representative Daniel Webster from office.

Today, she is known for her vocal support of Trump and for spreading a long list of conspiracy theories, including claims that Kamala Harris is not black and that the son of billionaire George Soros has sent cryptic messages calling for Trump’s assassination.

These posts led to her being banned from several platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and, according to her, even Uber and Lyft for making offensive comments about Muslim drivers. She once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe.”

Ms Loomer frequently attends events in support of Trump and has previously been seen at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Earlier this year, she traveled on his plane to Iowa, where he praised her on stage at an event. “You want her on your side,” Trump said. The former president has also shared several of her videos on Truth Social.

And last year the New York Times reported Trump expressed interest in hiring her for his campaign and only relented when top advisers expressed concern that she could harm his campaign efforts.

“Everyone who works for him thinks she’s a liability,” a Trump adviser said of Ms. Loomer in an NBC News report in January.

Another outspoken Trump supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene, clashed with Ms Loomer this week over her comments questioning Harris’s ethnicity and a post in which she said the White House would “smell like curry” if Harris – who is of partial Indian descent – was elected.

Greene said Ms Loomer’s comments were “appalling and extremely racist” and “do not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA” – sparking a flood of angry messages directed at her.

This dispute in Trump’s circle erupted just one day after Ms. Loomer joined Trump in New York and Pennsylvania to mark the anniversary of September 11.

When asked by the Associated Press about her presence there, she said she did not work for the campaign and was “invited as a guest.”