Laura Loomer arrives with Donald Trump for the presidential debate at Philadelphia International Airport on Tuesday.

Chris Szagola/AP

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Chris Szagola/AP

This story first appeared on NPR’s live blog of the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. See how the night unfolded.

When former President Donald Trump traveled to Philadelphia for his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, one of the guests on his plane was far-right social media influencer Laura Loomer, who once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and “pro-white nationalist.”

Loomer, a former Republican congressional candidate, is known for spreading conspiracy theories as well as anti-immigration and anti-Islam views. Although she had previously been banned from some social media platforms, she was reinstated on Twitter – now known as X – under Elon Musk’s ownership and has over a million followers.

Trump has publicly praised her and shared her posts, and this is not the first time he invited her onto his planeAccording to media reports, he wanted to give her a role in his election campaign last year, but The New York Times reported the plan failed after immediate backlash from some of his key supporters who felt she would be a burden.

Instead, Loomer spread a stream of misleading content to her followers, including false claims that President Biden was close to death This summer, Harris is not black and there are conspiracy theories about school shootings.

She told The WashingtonPost in May“I’m happy to dedicate all my time to supporting Trump because if Trump doesn’t come back, I have nothing.”