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Ossoff spotlights Harp
Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old White House aide, has become a focus of U.S. political attention after Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff mentioned her during a campaign rally in Atlanta, saying Trump “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie in his flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
““He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom [in the White House] and travel with Natalie [Harp] in her flying palace, apparently unprotected, a gift from the Emir of Qatar,””
Ossoff’s remarks prompted a direct response from the White House, with communications director Stephen Cheung posting that “Jon Jackoff must be the biggest coward and loser in politics.”
Harp’s official role is described as special assistant and executive assistant to the president, and CBS News says she is frequently seen at President Trump’s side while providing printouts for him to read.
CBS News also says Harp became known as the “human printer” during the 2024 presidential campaign because she carried a portable printer to quickly provide positive news coverage to Trump.
In the same dispute, Trump himself compared Ossoff to “Pee-wee Herman? Pee-wee Herman look-alike?” when asked about Ossoff’s comment Monday in the Oval Office.
White House and allies
CBS News reports that White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended Harp as “one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump’s team,” while calling Ossoff’s rhetoric “cringeworthy.”
CNN describes Harp as a constant presence at Trump’s side and quotes a White House adviser saying, “[Trump] likes the attention and the fact that she is 100% committed and loyal,” adding, “She doesn’t second guess, doesn’t question.”
The dispute over Harp’s closeness to Trump also ties to her role during a secret plane transfer, with CBS News saying the Secret Service adopted the ruse after U.S. intelligence to fire a missile at his plane as he left Ankara.
CBS News says only a limited group traveled on the secret flight, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and aides Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino, while several top Cabinet members remained on the decoy plane along with other staff and the press corps.
Democracy Now! frames the episode around secrecy and cites New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s account that key decisions are made by Trump along with “a tight-knit group of five to six people in the room with him.”
Access, influence, and lawsuits
Beyond the political sparring, NBC News says Harp is one of the few advisers with direct access to Trump’s social media accounts, and it notes that the White House blamed a “staff member” for a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
“a lawsuit, along with Trump, his fellow adviser Dan Scavino, and the White House”
NBC News also reports that Harp was named co-defendant in a lawsuit, along with Trump, Dan Scavino, and the White House, over Trump’s decision to sell high-speed access to his Truth Social account that promoted a “real-time feed of Truth posts with greater market-moving capability.”
The lawsuit described by NBC News claims that Trump allegedly approves the content of his posts by physically printed drafts, after which Harp enters the president’s Truth Social account and posts on his behalf.
Forbes adds that Harp was reportedly among the select group of aides who joined Trump on a secure flight out of Turkey, and it quotes Ossoff’s line about Trump wanting to “travel with Natalie” rather than do his job.
In the same broader scrutiny, EFE says Harp has been known as “the human printer” because she carries a portable printer to give Trump printed materials, and it reports that one of the messages attributed to her read: “You are all that matters to me.”
