Who is Natalie Harp, Trump's right-hand woman?One of Trump's longest serving and most loyal aides, Harp was thrust again into the spotlight when Democrat Jon Ossoff noted her closeness to the president.8 mins agoUS & Canada
Who is Natalie Harp, Trump's right-hand woman?
Who is Natalie Harp, Trump's right-hand woman?
Article outline
- What happened
- Reaction
- Official response
- What comes next
- Why it matters
- The bottom line
Key points
- Haberman and Swan documented for the New York Times in 2024 that Harp had supposedly written in a letter to Trump: "You are all that matters to me."
- "When I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials, " she remarked at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
- One of Trump's longest-serving and most loyal aides, 35-year-old Harp is trusted with typing out his Truth Social posts, among other top responsibilities.
- After Trump's loss in that election, Harp identified work hosting a show at the conservative One Americans News Network, or OAN.
- Few individuals in US President Donald Trump's orbit have appeared as frequently by his side as Natalie Harp over recent years.
She was thrust again into the spotlight this week by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff – a Democrat and frequent Trump foil – when he lately name-checked her during a speech that has since gone viral.
Ossoff attacked Trump's "travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar", referring to the new Air Force One plane as well as to reports that Harp joined Trump – and a small group of individuals – when he secretly swapped planes leaving Turkey last month.
Here is what you need to know regarding the Trump assistant who has been called both a "gatekeeper" and a "comfort blanket". After an unorthodox path to the White House.
Meanwhile, a California native and member of a conservative Christian family, Harp followed an unorthodox path into an already unconventional White House. She rose to fame by crediting Trump with saving her life.
In his first term, Trump obtained the Right to Try Act passed to provide some patients greater access to experimental treatments. It harp applied for her bone cancer. She rapidly gained prominence and popularity in Trump's Maga (Produce America Great Again) wing of the Republican party talking regarding the experience, and shortly after joined an advisory board for Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.
"When I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials, " she remarked at the 2020 Republican National Convention. "They didn't offer me the right to try experimental treatments, Mr President. You did, and without you, I'd have died waiting for them to be approved."
After the event, Trump remarked: "She lit up the television screen like very few people I have ever seen do it."
There, she became known as a ferocious Trump defender and prominent election denier. She left the network in 2022 to join Trump's next presidential campaign.
Most accounts of Trump's views of Harp come via anonymous second-hand sources in books by reporters such as Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan or Michael Wolff, and particularly little is publicly known concerning her private life.
Now, Harp's official title at the White House is executive assistant to the president. It typically denotes a lower tier position that entails managing logistics, scheduling, communications flow and mundane – but vital – secretarial work.
By all accounts, though, Harp has given the role new meaning and her profile is significantly higher than that of her predecessors, such as Madeleine Westerhout in Trump's first administration.
Reporters at the White House frequently see Harp standing just feet away from Trump in the Oval Office or boarding Air Force One for plenty of of his domestic and international trips.
"She's always around, " one source close to the White House informed the BBC. "Literally, always."
Among White House insiders and members of the press, she is often referred to as the "human printer" since she is often spotted carrying a portable printer to provide Trump with hard copies of articles and social media posts. It he prefers.
In practice, this means that Harp has an out-sized ability to control what information or updates Trump receives, according to another source familiar with White House operations.
Other anonymous sources have described her to US media outlets as a "gatekeeper" and "comfort blanket".
Harp additionally serves as something of a social media scribe for Trump, posting to his Truth Social account on his behalf.
In one image that has been widely shared in the aftermath of Ossoff's comments, Harp is shown typing a post – in the president's own writing style – as he dictates to her while watching a speech of Kamala Harris in 2024.
Although Trump has rarely spoken concerning her on camera, against the backdrop of the recent focus on Harp, the White House has described her as a "trusted and valued" member of the team.
Ossoff was one of plenty of Trump critics who observed Harp was reportedly on the plane that the president boarded to leave Turkey after the US supposedly received information regarding a threat from Iran.
Reporter Haberman, who has additionally noted extensively on Trump's presidencies, was asked during an appearance on the news network MSNOW why Trump took Harp with him on the secret plane: "Because she is sort of his binky, for lack of a better way of putting it, a comfort blanket."
As "a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment to her alleged profession", when a CNN reporter earlier this week asked Trump regarding Ossoff's comments, the White House reacted angrily on its official X account, describing the reporter, Kristen Holmes.
"Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question, " another post directed to Holmes read. "They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive."
For now, who is Natalie Harp, Trump' s right-hand woman?One of Trump' s longest serving and remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.
