Far-right activist Laura Loomer on Tuesday was condemned by veteran journalist Mehdi Hasan after she called for the firing of another Muslim State Department employee.
Ms Loomer accused Wardah Khalid of holding views inconsistent with President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda. Ms Khalid is the latest in a string of State Department employees Ms Loomer has accused of being Islamic extremists.
"She must immediately be terminated from her job," the self-described "proud Islamophobe" said in a post on X, tagging Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
According to her LinkedIn account, which has been closed down but which Ms Loomer used a screenshot of in an article, Ms Khalid is a foreign affairs officer with the State Department.
Her biography page on the Asian American Journalists Association website says she previously served as a senior policy adviser at the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr Hasan, veteran journalist and chief executive of Zeteo, called Ms Loomer's attacks "shameful".
"Watching Loomer harass and demonise individual Muslim government employees simply for being Muslims while the Democrats and 'liberal media' say nothing is a reminder of how mainstreamed and normalised anti-Muslim bigotry is in the US, across the political spectrum," he wrote on X.
A day earlier, Ms Loomer made a similar call to oust Mariya Ilyas, a career foreign service officer who previously served in a leadership position with state employee organisation American Muslims and Friends at State.
Ms Ilyas, in a 2024 article for State Magazine, described Amfas as an organisation that "promotes professional development for employees identifying as Muslims and those interested in the cultures and traditions of Muslim communities".
Ms Loomer, however, called it an organisation bent on the "Islamification" of the State Department and derided its campaign to include ablution stations in bathrooms so Muslim employees could perform prayers.
Ultimately, her posts and articles against people she says are trying to "Islamify" the US government contain no evidence – or even claims – of wrongdoing, apart from advocating for inclusion for Muslim workers or a nuanced view of the Middle East or Islam, or being previously critical of Mr Trump. The National has contacted the State Department for comment.
Amfas and Ms Ilyas are only the most recent targets of Ms Loomer's ire. Last week, she accused the State Department's senior press officer for Palestinian-Israeli affairs of being “anti-Trump” and pushing “pro-Iranian regime propaganda”.
She highlighted Shahed Ghoreishi's time as an intern with the lobbying group the National Iranian American Council, and accused him of holding “anti-Israel” views.
According to The Washington Post, Mr Ghoreishi was dismissed this month after disputes over how to characterise White House policies, including a plan to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.
Speaking to Democracy Now, Mr Ghoreishi said he had clashed with administration officials over messaging on Israel and Gaza. "I was a believer in the process and the guardrails, and a believer in human decency," he said, expressing concern about "how radical our policy is becoming, not just on policy, but language, as well".
The State Department declined to comment on "leaked emails or allegations" surrounding Mr Ghoreishi's firing.
"The Department has zero tolerance for employees who commit misconduct by leaking or otherwise disclosing confidential deliberative emails or information," Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman, told The National in a statement. "Federal employees should never put their personal political ideologies ahead of the duly elected President’s agenda.”
While Ms Loomer's attacks on these and other government employees and institutions might come off as isolated extremist rhetoric, she does have 1.7 million followers and frequently appears in conservative media. And her words appear to be having concrete effects.
Apart from Mr Ghoreishi's dismissal, Ms Loomer also credits herself with getting the State Department to stop issuing visas to injured Gazans seeking medical treatment in the US.
In a recent post, she accused refugees receiving permission to enter the US on medical grounds "visa fraud". "Earlier this week, the Trump administration halted the Gazan visa programme and announced a full review," she said in the post.
"The media can smear me all they want, but the Trump administration is following my reporting."
Mr Trump has admitted he listens to her recommendations. “Laura Loomer is a great patriot. She’s a very strong person," the President said of her in April. After an Oval Office meeting with Mr Trump, the administration carried out a string of firings at the National Security Council, with reports suggesting Ms Loomer had pushed for the sackings.
Ms Loomer's goal appears to be a purge of the Trump administration of any employee that does not fully align with the White House's agenda, whether or not they are political appointees. During an appearance on WarRoom, she demanded the firing of "Islamic and communist holdovers from the [Joe] Biden and [Barack] Obama era".
The Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University research project that extends information about Islamophobia to the public, said Ms Loomer has built "her career on promoting hate against Muslims".
"Despite having no official role in government, Loomer has influenced Trump’s orbit, from the firing of national security officials to major policy shifts," the Bridge Initiative said in a post on X in response to the ending of medical visas for Gazans.
"Loomer has repeatedly promoted violent and Islamophobic rhetoric. She celebrated the deaths of migrants and likened Muslim refugees to a disease."
