Natalie Harp, a little-known close aide to US President Donald Trump, is at the centre of an ugly clash between the White House and Senator Jon Ossoff. A pointed comment by the Democratic lawmaker, highlighting the close nature of her relationship with the president, has put her in the national spotlight.
During a rally in Atlanta on August 16, Georgia Democrat Ossoff accused Trump of wanting to “travel with Natalie” instead of focusing on his duties. He didn’t even use her full name. But everybody in Washington knew who he was talking about.
“He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar,” Jon Ossoff was quoted by several US media outlets as saying.
White House officials’ offensive against Ossoff
Ossoff’s comments touched a nerve at the White House. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung fired back with a vulgar insult.
Meanwhile, David Ingle, a White House spokesperson, similarly wrote online, “Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama. Nobody gives a s — what this lightweight loser says.”
Why did Jon Ossoff made this comment?
Ossoff made the “travel with Natalie” comment at a time when there was buzz in the media about Trump’s secret plane switch at the recent NATO summit in Turkey. Harp was one of a handful of people who secretly swapped from Air Force One with Trump in Turkey after a security threat.
According to MS Now report, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had remained behind on Air Force One, which Trump apparently abandoned in response to a security threat. The president did, however, travel with three White House aides — Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino — as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, it added.
With this in mind, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, in the midst of a competitive re-election campaign in Georgia, took a moment on Sunday to refer to the president’s “travel with Natalie.” Ossoff is also said to be a potential presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
“While the sailors on the [USS Abraham Lincoln] fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings,” the senator told a crowd at a campaign rally.
“He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace, gifted by the emir of Qatar,” Ossoff reportedly said.
When asked why he brought up Harp, Ossoff told MS NOW on Monday, “Well, I’ve heard this particular aide referred to as his ‘security blanket.’ And I think we could say that about any number of the senior aides in the White House.”
“They’re not telling him what he needs to hear; they’re telling him what he wants to hear. And the nation is at war, and we cannot afford that. We need a team in the White House — we need folks at the State Department, at the Defense Department, in the United States Congress who take their jobs seriously,” he reportedly said.
The Senator added, “Those sailors out on the Lincoln, they do their jobs with excellence and dedication every single day. They didn’t sign up for luxury. They signed up to defend the country. And the president, surrounded by enablers in the West Wing, is playing golf, is trading stock and is decorating his ballroom. It’s a disgrace.”
Who is Natalie Harp?
Natalie Harp, the 35-year-old executive assistant to Trump, has emerged as one of the US President’s most trusted aides, drawing scrutiny from Democrats and conservatives alike.
Harp, a former television presenter for One America News Network, graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2012 and received an MBA from Liberty University in 2015, according to Vanity Fair.
She is reportedly behind Trump’s Truth Social posts, carries a portable printer (hence the nickname “human printer”), and ensures he has access to the articles and information he wants to see.
She could almost always be seen by Trump’s side. The Wall Street Journal describes her as “Trump’s ever-present executive assistant.”
“Though she rarely speaks, she is an omnipresent figure at Trump’s side, standing just off camera during Oval Office events, traveling with the president around the country and the world, and tapping out his social-media posts,” the report added.
The New York Times had published a memorable report on her a few weeks after Election Day 2024, describing her as a young “former far-right cable host” who is “nearly always at Mr. Trump’s side.”
The article noted that Harp “has written him a series of devotional letters, including one that said, ‘You are all that matters to me.’” In a separate letter, she also told Trump he’s her “guardian and protector in this life.”
Recently, comments by Harp’s estranged brothers during an interview with a media house were widely circulated on social media. In one viral video, he said Harp has an “unhealthy relationship” with Trump. He also said he thinks his sister got close to Trump because she’s his “biggest fan…She thinks that he saved her life.”
Harp’s constant presence alongside Trump, reported access to his communications and growing visibility inside his inner circle have made her one of the most talked-about aides in Washington, the USA Today reported.
One person close to the White House told the Wall Street Journal that Harp’s cellphone number is even more precious than Trump’s.
She sits at a desk immediately outside the Oval Office. During meetings, Harp can often be found next to Trump, armed with a laptop and phones so she can quickly get the president any contact or piece of information he needs, the officials said.
Why Harp is called ‘human printer’
Harp has been dubbed the “human printer” — thanks to her role carrying a portable machine to print out documents that Trump asks for. But that severely underestimates her role.
Harp is one of a small number of aides with direct access to Trump’s Truth Social account. She often brings the president stacks of printed-out draft social-media posts for his approval. Trump sometimes dictates posts to Harp, who posts them on his behalf from her iPhone. She has learned to mimic Trump’s cadence and unique punctuation, the officials said.
She effectively functions as a gatekeeper to the president by controlling the information that gets through to Trump — often reportedly pointing him towards right-wing material on social media.
Trump reportedly believes she is invaluable, which explains her frequent presence in his company everywhere from the Oval Office to his private helicopter, Marine One, and to the presidential jet itself.
“All of you will go off and make money… she’ll never leave me,” Trump said, as per AFP, adding that she was the only person who loved him as much as his wife and children, according to the book “Regime Change” by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
White House officials were quoted as saying that Harp hasn’t taken a single vacation day since joining the Trump administration and remains in constant contact with the president, sitting in on Situation Room meetings, Oval Office meetings and meetings aboard Air Force One in his private office.
While all executive staff work for the president, Harp reports exclusively to Trump and no one else, according to people familiar with the dynamic.
‘With all my heart’
The scale of her loyalty to the president has raised eyebrows in some quarters.
“You are all that matters to me,” Harp wrote in one note to Trump, according to “Regime Change.” Another note apologised for being an “embarrassment” after a video showed her sprinting to keep up with Trump’s golf cart on his course in Scotland, the New York Times said, and was signed “With all my heart, Natalie.”
In 2023, Harp once insisted on riding in the trunk of an SUV to accompany him on a trip to a New York courthouse after staffers said there wasn’t space for her in the motorcade, CNN reported.
The White House strongly defended her role.
“Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump’s team,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to AFP. “The media should get back to reporting real news and stop regurgitating Trump-Deranged liberal talking points.”
The MAGA media bubble has also united to attack both Ossoff and the media over the comments.
Trump swerved a question this week about Harp but compared Ossoff to late television star Pee-wee Herman while the White House attacked a CNN reporter for asking the question, even saying her children would be ashamed of her.
