
Trump's most controversial ally sets sights on taking down RFK Jr. staffer plotting his secret 2028 presidential run
Loomer would like to see Stefanie Spear ousted, according to Wednesday's edition of Politico Playbook.
Spear now serves as principal deputy chief of staff and senior counselor to RFK at HHS but she previously served as Kennedy's press secretary during his 2024 campaign.
She was one of the most visible campaign officials during Kennedy's run at the White House, which ended when the Democrat-turned-independent decided to endorse now President Donald Trump.
'I think that there's a clear intention by Stefanie Spear to utilize her position to try and lay the groundwork for a 2028 RFK presidential run,' Loomer alleged to Playbook.
Loomer has tried to root out those disloyal to the president - and was largely credited for the gutting of the National Security Council earlier this year.
She appeared to have concerns about Kennedy too - a former political rival of the president who comes from a storied family of Democrats.
But she told Playbook she thought Kennedy was likely firmly in his place.
'I'm not naive enough to think that the president is going to get rid of RFK, but I will say that ... there are concerns about some of the staffing decisions over at HHS,' she told Politico before pointing a finger a Spear.
Loomer said that her suspicions about Spear forging ahead on a RFK 2028 bid come from 'sources in HHS.'
Contacted by the Daily Mail, Loomer didn't have anything to add to Politico's reporting.
Requests for comment to HHS and Spear were not immediately returned.
Spear was already taking heat from MAGA loyalists during the opening weeks of the administration.
In February, Axios reported that Trump-aligned insiders were sharing old social media posts from Spear that show support for Democratic causes.
'This woman just has every appearance of being a disaster from a conservative perspective,' one source from a conservative-leaning organization told the publication.
Last month, Axios reported that those involved in Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement seemed to be laying the groundwork for him to mount a 2028 campaign.
That move could ruffle feathers with Trump. While he is constitutionally barred from running for a third term, the president will want to play kingmaker in the 2028 race.
Hundreds of supporters and influencers participated in a mid-July MAHA call that was coordinated by Spear, vaccine skeptic Robert Malone and MAHA PAC leader Tony Lyons.
Lyons' involvement signaled to some sources that Kennedy's political infrastructure was getting ready for another bid.
But Lyons pushed back on this interpretation of the event.
'This is just a made up story,' he told the Daily Mail last month. 'There's no truth to it whatsoever. The PAC was not involved at all in that media event and is mostly dormant now.'
'Secretary Kennedy has given no indication whatsoever that he's even considering running for president,' Lyons added.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Account tied to Trump nominee posted conspiracy theories about Epstein, the 2020 election and Covid, report says
A social media account tied to President Donald Trump 's controversial pick to take over the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a history of posting various far-right conspiracy theories – the latest eyebrow-raising report to emerge about what is often a nonpartisan nominee. Last week, Trump announced he would nominate Erwin John 'EJ' Antoni III, the chief economist at The Heritage Foundation, the conservative group that created Project 2025, to replace former BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer. A surface-level review of Antoni, 37, shows that he is a loyal Trump supporter who has aligned himself with the current administration's ideals – contributing to Project 2025, bashing former president Joe Biden's record, and even being a 'bystander' at the January 6 attack on the Capitol. But a more in-depth look at Antoni's history online indicates that a now-deleted X account, which once used Antoni's name, posted theories about Jeffrey Epstein's death, Covid-19's origins, and the validity of the 2020 presidential election, according to WIRED. A website archive of the account 'PhDofbombsaway,' shows that it used the name 'Dr. Erwin J. Antoni III,' 'Dr. J.,' as well as 'Dr. Curtis LeMay,' – an apparent reference to the Air Force general largely credited with planning and executing mass bombings on Japan during World War II, as well as advocating for nuclear weapon usage. The account's profile picture was of a fiery mushroom cloud, not unlike the one associated with nuclear weapon detonations. 'All or nothing. Do it die,' the account posted in late November 2020 in response to a tweet encouraging Republicans to stand up to 'fraudulently mailed machines.' The account consistently re-posted false claims about election fraud and theories about stolen ballots from prominent accounts. On January 5, 2021, hours before the attack on the Capitol, the account posted a reference to violence in the Bible while responding to a tweet from Trump in which he encouraged Republicans to 'fight.' 'Samson has his arms around the temple pillars, and although he may not survive, he will bring it all down on his enemies,' it posted, referring to the story of Samson receiving strength from God to rise up against his enemies. Last week, photos of Antoni outside the Capitol on January 6 circulated online. The White House confirmed Antoni was present as a 'bystander' who wandered over to see coverage of it on the news. Other posts from the account indicate the person running it was ingrained in far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories. In November 2019, the account responded to a person theorizing about Epstein's death by suicide, claiming, 'Epstein didn't kill himself.' That theory was widely circulated among far-right communities online and continues to be a central part of concerns about government transparency around Epstein. Later that month, the same account replied to a tweet that seemed to make a sexual innuendo about former vice president Kamala Harris with its own. 'She does her best work when life brings her to her knees,' the account wrote. The Independent has asked the White House for comment. Antoni declined to comment to Wired. While the account has since been deleted, Antoni remains present online with an X account that mostly posts Trump-aligned views of the economy or economic data. But his nomination has been subject to criticism even before NBC News reported his presence at the Capitol, or Wired reported about his alleged former X account. The president previously fired McEntarfer, a career civil servant, after expressing dissatisfaction with the BLS's job numbers reports. Trump insinuated, without evidence, that McEntarfer had manipulated the numbers to make the president look bad because the figures did not line up with Trump's rhetoric about the economy. Some economists and lawmakers have expressed concern that Trump's new nominee could be more inclined to alter BLS numbers to appease the president. While there is no rule about who may be the BLS commissioner, they are typically expected to be nonpartisan, given that the BLS is an independent fact-checking arm of the Department of Labor. Upon announcing Antoni's nomination, the president vowed that his nominee would 'ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.' Antoni previously tweeted, calling for a 'better' way to collect and disseminate BLS data and criticizing the current method of doing so. Antoni's nomination will require Senate confirmation. So far, at least two Democratic senators have called for the Senate to reject Antoni's nomination.


The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Justice Department investigating DC police over Trump allegations of ‘fake' crime data
The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether Washington, D.C. officials manipulated crime data after Donald Trump accused the capital city of creating 'fake crime numbers' to undermine his federal takeover. On his Truth Social account on Monday, Trump accused D.C. officials of manipulating data to create a 'false illusion of safety.' 'This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do, and they are under serious investigation for so doing!' Trump wrote. Last week, the president declared what he called a 'crime emergency' to justify his administration taking control of the city's Metropolitan Police Department while deploying National Guard troops and federal law enforcement agents into the city's streets, claiming that the White House must 'rescue' the city from 'crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.' He claimed the city is overrun with 'bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,' though reports of violent crime in the city have plummeted, along with national downward trends of violent crime rates. The capital city 'was the most unsafe 'city' in the United States, and perhaps the World,' he wrote on Monday. 'Now, in just a short period of time, it is perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!' Despite the administration's claims that crime is 'out of control' in D.C., the data shows the opposite: 2024 saw the lowest violent crime rates in the capital in more than 30 years, while reports of violent crime within the first seven months of 2025 have plunged 27 percent from last year. Homicides are down 11 percent, according to city data. Those rates mirror national downward trends, according to FBI crime data released during Trump's administration.


Reuters
18 minutes ago
- Reuters
Does Trump have the power to ban mail-in ballots in U.S. elections?
Aug 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump wants to ban mail-in ballots in federal elections, a form of voting popular with many Americans. About three in 10 ballots were cast through the mail in the 2024 general election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Trump, a Republican, does not have clear legal authority to do this, though his allies in Congress and state governments could enact policies barring the practice. Here is a look at Trump's authority and how the law could be changed. Only states and the U.S. Congress can pass laws regulating elections. A unilateral ban by the president on mail-in ballots would likely exceed Trump's limited authority to enforce existing law. In a Monday social media post, Trump said mail-in ballots are susceptible to fraud and that he would lead a movement to ban them, beginning with an executive order bringing "honesty" to the November 2026 midterm elections. Republicans have filed scores of lawsuits seeking to end mail-in voting in recent years, citing possible fraud. Democrats generally support mail-in ballots as a way to expand access to voting. Voter fraud in the U.S. is extremely rare, multiple studies have shown. White House representatives provided a general statement about Trump's election policies but did not answer questions about his legal authority to ban mail-in ballots or what an executive order would say. States are responsible for administering their votes under the U.S. Constitution, and Republican-controlled legislatures could pass laws banning mail-in ballots so long as they do not conflict with federal law. Congress could ban the use of mail-in ballots in federal elections and override state laws protecting their use, but Trump's Republican Party has slim majorities in Congress and would face difficulty getting past opposition by Democrats. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats. To pass a mail-in ballot ban they would need to end the filibuster, a longstanding tradition requiring 60 of the chamber's 100 members to approve most legislation. State and federal laws banning mail-in voting could be challenged in court as unconstitutional impediments to voting. Presidents in the U.S. have some discretion in enforcing election laws, and Trump could try to use those powers to end or restrict mail-in voting, though it is unclear how. In June, a federal judge blocked parts of an executive order by Trump requiring voters to prove they are U.S. citizens and attempting to prevent states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day. The Trump administration is appealing. "The Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections," said U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama.