Full story
January 6 posts
Natalie Harp, a White House aide to President Donald Trump, posted more than 150 tweets on January 6, 2021 as Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and challenged the election result.
“Harp posted more than 150 tweets that day, urging Republicans to “FIGHT FOR TRUMP””
CNN’s review of Harp’s now-removed account on X found she urged Republicans to “FIGHT FOR TRUMP” as Trump began his speech near the White House.
The posts also echoed Trump’s claims that the election was stolen and amplified rhetoric aimed at undermining the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election win, with Harp sharing assertions from his allies questioning Biden’s victory.
On the morning of January 6, Harp called the gathered supporters patriots and demanded that lawmakers show similar courage, while insisting that the vote count be stopped.
Harp also shared Rudy Giuliani’s call for “trial by combat,” and Giuliani’s lawyers later explained the words were hyperbole, not a call for violence.
Reactions and scrutiny
David B. Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron who studies the American presidency, said of Harp’s role that “Trump likes that, he doesn’t like being questioned. He likes to be revered, and she clearly does exactly that.”
CNN reported that neither Harp nor the White House responded to CNN’s requests for comment about the deleted posts.
Harp, then 29, praised pro-Trump demonstrators gathering for Trump’s speech as “patriots” and challenged lawmakers to show “a fraction of the courage & passion” of the crowd, declaring: “today we STOP THE STEAL!”
As the controversy intensified, Hindustan Times framed the “Natalie Harp row” by resurfacing Hope Hicks, describing her as a longtime Trump aide who served as White House communications director before leaving the administration in 2018.
Hicks later weighed in on the political fallout on X with a post that said: “Translation… $95M is about to go into Democrat coffers.”
Political fallout ahead
CNN said Harp’s election-lie narrative did not begin on January 6, 2021, noting that in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riot she posted, “We will never give up – for TRUTH is on our side. January 6th is coming!!.”
““America may not be America anymore. But God’s still God. Don’t stop believing!!””
After the House voted to reject the objection raised by Republican lawmakers to counting Arizona’s electoral votes, Harp tweeted: “America may not be America anymore. But God’s still God. Don’t stop believing!!”
CNN also reported that Harp singled out lawmakers who continued to challenge the results, thanking Rep. Jody Hice for being “a man of his word and the Constitution,” praising Marjorie Taylor Greene for her “courage,” and calling Josh Hawley “a true patriot.”
The Washington Post’s coverage of the Harps placed Natalie Harp’s devotion to Trump under scrutiny in Washington, while CNN said she was thrust into the public eye this week when Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff mentioned her by name in a speech attacking Trump.
CNN further reported that on Thursday the Daily Beast published two letters reportedly written to the president, expressing Harp’s “utmost loyalty,” as the deleted tweets continued to shape the political conversation.