Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff has criticized US President Donald Trump over his close relationship with White House aide Natalie Harp during a rally speech this week.
Ossoff, a Democrat touted as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, complained that Trump does not want to do the job of president and wants to build his White House ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.
The Georgia senator referenced reports that Harp, 35, was among a select group of aides who left an aircraft donated by Qatar following a NATO summit in Turkey last month and secretly moved with Trump to a different plane for security reasons.
Ossoff later explained he raised her name because media reports described her as Trump's security blanket. He claimed Harp and other White House staff are not telling him what he needs to hear, they are telling him what he wants to hear, adding that the nation is at war and cannot afford that.
Asked about Ossoff's comments by CNN reporter Kristen Holmes, Trump ridiculed the Georgia senator. When Holmes asked a follow-up question regarding North Korea, Trump told her to be quiet.
The White House later castigated Holmes on social media, writing that some day her children would come across her disgusting and inhumane question.
Role as the Human Printer
Harp holds the official title of Special Assistant to the President and Executive Assistant to the President, earning a salary of £110,000.
Nicknamed the human printer, she carries a portable, wireless computer printer with a battery pack and paper wherever Trump goes. Her role is to keep him instantly updated with positive news and comments about him in hard copy.
Harp also helps compose posts for Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. These have included reposting a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, as well as an AI-generated picture of Trump as Jesus Christ.
Insiders say Harp exercises unusual influence, including texting world leaders on her boss's behalf. The New York Times described the seldom-heard-from and sylphlike woman as a one-woman conduit of information operating entirely outside the usual chain of command.
Personal Devotion and Internal Letters
Harp joined Trump's staff in 2022, displaying a level of devotion following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol that stunned close aides.
Letters revealed in the book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, showed Harp wrote to Trump stating, "You're all that matters to me." In another letter, she wrote, "I want to bring you joy, to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk 'work'."
She also described Trump as her "Guardian and Protector in this Life" and admitted in a third letter that she would sometimes forget to eat and sleep while working for him.
Trump has called Harp "sweetie" and "that young, beautiful woman," describing her as the only person who loves him as much as his wife and children.
Her devotion has extended to physical feats, such as sprinting around a Scottish golf course to keep up with Trump's buggy. During a 2023 motorcade to a New York court appearance, following a screaming match with other aides over limited vehicle space, Harp scrunched into the boot of an SUV to ensure she attended.
Photos frequently capture Harp nearby staring at Trump during public duties, including recent appearances at Camp David, Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey, Hains Point golf course, and the Oval Office.
Background and Political Career
A Christian from California, Harp was homeschooled by an extremely conservative mother. Her estranged brother Preston, a self-described Communist, called her relationship with Trump very unhealthy and stated she is infatuated because Trump embodies her conviction that the US is the boss of the world. Harp is unmarried and has no recorded boyfriends.
In 2019, Harp came to Trump's attention after being interviewed on Fox News, where she claimed to be living proof of his federal healthcare changes giving Americans the right to try experimental drugs. Trump saw the interview and recruited her to his campaign.
She addressed the 2020 Republican National Convention just a month after her father died by suicide, telling Trump, "I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for you."
Harp and her mother subsequently moved into an apartment in West Palm Beach, Florida, to be near Trump's Mar-a-Lago headquarters. Harp reportedly slept in the women's changing rooms at his golf club to remain close, rejecting a maid's room because it was further away.
Around the same time, she began working as a presenter for One America News Network, a Right-wing cable television station accused of promoting conspiracy theories.
White House Influence and Inner Circle Reactions
According to political journalist Alex Isenstadt, author of Revenge: The Inside Story Of Trump's Return to Power, First Lady Melania Trump once found Harp late at night in Trump's private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, an area normally off-limits to staff. There was no suggestion of impropriety, and the First Lady has not publicly commented on the incident.
Trump chronicler Michael Wolff claimed people around the president were baffled by Harp's sudden rise before the 2024 election, with some considering her dangerous given her influence over him. Wolff stated, "She was the most important person in his political life, and I think was then gradually becoming the most important person in his personal life, also."
The White House responded to Wolff by stating, "Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump’s team. Michael Wolff is a professional scumbag and serial liar with s**t for brains."
As speculation continues regarding the pair, White House insiders stress that the 80-year-old president regards his aide like one of his children. In 2006, Trump observed of his daughter Ivanka that if she were not his daughter, "perhaps I'd be dating her."
