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Ossoff targets Harp
A clash between the White House and Sen. Jon Ossoff erupted after the Georgia Democrat invoked Natalie Harp during a campaign rally in Atlanta, saying Trump “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
“He continued: “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie”
Ossoff’s jab came as he criticized whether Trump was focused on duties as commander-in-chief, and the dispute quickly pulled Harp, a 35-year-old executive assistant to President Donald Trump, into the center of the fight.
White House communications director Steven Cheung responded by attacking Ossoff on social media, writing that “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics.”
Trump then mocked Ossoff by comparing him to the comedy character Pee-wee Herman and told CNN’s Kristen Holmes in the Oval Office that he would “much rather do other things.”
CNN reporter becomes target
The feud escalated when CNN’s Kristen Holmes asked Trump about Ossoff’s comments regarding Natalie Harp, prompting Trump to tell her, “Quiet, quiet. Fake news. You’re a loud, boisterous person. You’re fake news. Be quiet.”
The White House’s rapid response account then posted that “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question,” targeting Holmes on X after the exchange in the Oval Office.
CNN defended Holmes, saying “Public officials are free to challenge reporting they disagree with, but personal attacks on journalists for asking questions are beneath the office.”
Fox News Digital, meanwhile, framed the episode as a White House takedown of Ossoff, quoting Davis Ingle saying Ossoff was a “cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.”
Power, politics, and fallout
The controversy over Harp’s influence is tied to her role as a gatekeeper who curates what Trump reads, with the TribLIVE account describing her as “seen as a gatekeeper, curating the news articles, social media posts and messages Trump reads.”
“seen as a gatekeeper, curating the news articles, social media posts and messages Trump reads”
Ossoff’s comments also renewed scrutiny of Harp’s proximity during sensitive travel, with TribLIVE saying she was one of the few who accompanied Trump on a secret flight out of Turkey last month even as others traveled on another plane due to unspecified Iranian threats.
In the background of the political fight, the sources tie Harp’s rise to Trump’s “Right to Try” legislation, with TribLIVE noting she praised Trump for signing legislation that gave patients access to certain unapproved medical treatments and that she obtained an experimental treatment for bone cancer.
The stakes for the White House and its critics are reflected in the way the dispute is framed as personal and political at once, as CNN described Ossoff’s jab as igniting a “personal feud that could reverberate into a critical battleground midterm race.”
