Laura Loomer, who promoted a 9/11 conspiracy theory, joins Trump for ceremonies marking the attacks

Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist who posted last year that 9/11 was an "inside job," joined Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in New York and Pennsylvania on Wednesday as he commemorated the anniversary of the attacks.

The 31-year-old provocateur and influencer posted photos from ground zero and shared a video of Trump talking with firefighters in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning, writing, “They were thrilled to see him.” She also accompanied the former president to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the planes crashed 23 years ago after crew members and passengers fought back against the hijackers.

“HAPPENING NOW: President Trump just visited the Shanksville Fire Department after visiting the memorial site of United Flight 93 and meeting with family members of 9/11 terrorist attack victims in Shanksville, Pennsylvania,” she posted on X on Wednesday afternoon. “NEVER FORGET!”

Loomer said in a text message to The Associated Press that she doesn't work for the Trump campaign and that she was “invited as a guest.” She did not respond to questions about her past statements about 9/11.

The Trump campaign responded with a statement from an unnamed campaign official. “Today, President Trump put politics aside and stood beside Kamala Harris and Joe Biden to honor those who lost their lives during the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s history. The day wasn’t about anyone other than the souls who are no longer with us, their families, and the heroes who courageously stepped up to save their fellow Americans on that fateful day,” it read.

Loomer was also spotted departing Trump’s plane when he landed in Philadelphia for Tuesday’s debate.

Trump has a long history of elevating and associating with people who trade in falsehoods and conspiracy theories, and he regularly amplifies posts on his social media site shared by those like Loomer, who promote QAnon, an apocalyptic and convoluted conspiracy theory centered on the belief that Trump is fighting the “deep state.” During the debate, Trump pushed baseless claims about migrants stealing and eating cats and dogs and later defended his comments by saying he was repeating things he’d seen on TV.

She frequently makes anti-Islam and anti-immigrant posts on social media and has been targeting Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, with vile racist and sexist attacks. Last year, she shared a video on X that said “9/11 was an Inside Job!” and claimed it was somehow related to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's announcing $2.3 trillion in “lost” government funds on Sept. 10, 2001.

The post misrepresented Rumsfeld's remarks, which were about a challenge in tracking funds due to outdated technology. The day before 9/11 was not the first time the problem had been discussed.

The conspiracy theory that U.S. officials are hiding information about the Sept. 11 attacks or were somehow involved in the planning has taken hold among a segment of determined “truthers," but many of their most prevalent claims have fallen apart upon further scrutiny.

Loomer’s stepped-up presence in Trump’s entourage comes as he has made a number of staff changes in recent weeks, including bringing back veterans of his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, like former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Lewandowski was known for the mantra “Let Trump be Trump.”

She has long served as one of Trump’s fiercest supporters in the Make America Great Again wing of the Republican Party. She led attacks against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Trump’s behalf during the primary phase of the 2024 campaign and has been deeply involved in pro-Trump politics — and the more extreme elements it has attracted — for years.

Some Trump allies would prefer the former president to distance himself from Loomer, but Trump has welcomed her as a semi-regular presence in recent months.

When she ran as a Republican for Congress in Florida in 2020, Loomer celebrated her primary win at a party attended by controversial figures including Gavin McInnes, the founder of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys. She later lost the 2020 House race to Democrat Lois Frankel. She also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2022.

Laura Loomer arrives with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Philadelphia International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia, for the presidential debate. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Laura Loomer arrives with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump for a visit to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville, Pa., Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Laura Loomer watches as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump visits the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville, Pa., Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Lynne Patton, Laura Loomer and Corey Lewandowski watch as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump visits the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville, Pa., Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Just hours after a tanker in New Orleans lost its steering and slammed into a docked river cruise boat, the city’s port sued to make sure federal investigators can seize the vessel that is owned by a subsidiary of a Chinese company.

All 197 passengers and crew on the American Heritage cruise ship survived Friday as well as the crew on the tanker.

Officials said 32 people were brought to the hospital, including two police officers thrown into the Mississippi River when the boat rolled. But none of the injuries were critical and eight remained hospitalized Saturday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the tanker’s voyage data recorder has been recovered. The device records information such as the vessel’s speed and audio from the bridge of the tanker. It is the maritime equivalent of an aircraft’s flight data recorder.

NTSB member John DeLeeuw said the agency expects to release a preliminary report within 30 days, with the final investigation report expected in 18 to 24 months. A 16-member team will spend a week in New Orleans investigating the incident.

The lawsuit, filed by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, said the Atlantic Asphalt tanker caused at least $1 million in damage to its terminal. A judge issued a warrant Friday giving federal officials control of the ship for now.

The tanker has been towed away from the site, but it could take weeks to move the cruise ship, which remains turned on its side against a terminal in the Mississippi River, Coast Guard Capt. Melanie Burnham told reporters Saturday.

The first step is to make sure the 16,000 gallons (60,500 liters) of fuel on the boat are removed safely, she said.

Traffic has been limited on the Mississippi River, but Burnham said boats should be able to move both upstream and downstream soon.

The tanker appeared to lose steering, but the exact cause of the crash is not known, Burnham said. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to New Orleans.

The first warning people on board the American Heritage had was the tanker blasting its horn several times as it floated toward the cruise ship, passenger Joe Knab told WDSU-TV.

The hit was hard, and the ship immediately started leaning. The crew gathered everyone on the third deck to put on life vests and start getting them off the boat, but it suddenly rolled and sent Knab and about 100 other passengers and crew into the muddy Mississippi River, where the water was 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius).

Tugboat operators, other cruise ship captains, nearby workers, police and other rescuers rushed to help.

“It’s fine now, but it was a little scary there at the time. I thought I was drowning because I kept bobbing underneath — and the water doesn’t taste very good,” Knab told the television station, still in the jeans he was wearing on the boat, now covered in mud.

Knab said he thinks he was in the water about 15 minutes. He laughed and said his 20 years in the Navy likely helped him.

“They taught us not to drown,” Knab said.

Knab was wearing a shirt from a Hilton hotel where the passengers gathered. The rest of his belongings were in the river. Somehow his cellphone still worked. He hoped to get on a plane soon back to Wichita, Kansas, but he was not sure how Friday’s nationwide ground stop was going to throw another problem at him.

Putting the life vests on the passengers as they waited to get off the boat likely saved a number of lives when the boat suddenly turned into the water, New Orleans Harbor Police Chief Melanie Montroll said.

“Whether it’s 10 feet of water or 200 feet, having those vests, having that population put those vests on and kind of float upriver while we retrieve them — I think was the best factor of success,” Montroll said.

The American Heritage was finishing an eight-day cruise to several Mississippi River destinations.

The Atlantic Asphalt is a 520-foot-long (160-meter-long) vessel. It had a final destination in New Orleans, according to MarineTraffic, and was sailing under a flag for the Marshall Islands.

The ship is owned by a company called Nave Shipping SA, which is registered in Monrovia, Liberia, according to the International Maritime Organization and was one of the defendants in the lawsuit filed Friday.

Nave Shipping is a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a sprawling Chinese state-owned conglomerate, according to the live shipping tracker MarineTraffic.

China State Shipbuilding Corp. didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

The tanker involved in the crash specializes in carrying large quantities of asphalt and bitumen, a semi-solid substance that is often used for road construction and roofing, according to MarineTraffic.

The American Heritage river cruise paddleboat is seen on its side after being struck by the Atlantic Asphalt tanker ship in the Mississippi River, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Emergency personnel and crews work the scene after a tanker crashed into a river cruise in New Orleans, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

This image taken from video provided by Devon Flanagan shows people being helped out of the water after a tanker crashed into a river cruise in New Orleans, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Devon Flanagan via AP)

The American Heritage river cruise paddleboat is seen on its side after being struck by the Atlantic Asphalt tanker ship, top center, in the Mississippi River, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)