Natalie Harp, Trump’s Most Devoted Aide, Is Always by His Side. What Exactly Does She Do?
New York Times · LC · trust 29/100
President Trump’s White House aide Natalie Harp is always by his side. What, exactly, does she do?
Listen · 7:20 min Share full article Natalie Harp with President Trump at a meeting last month in Ankara, Turkey. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times By Shawn McCreesh and Maggie Haberman
Shawn McCreesh and Maggie Haberman cover the White House.
She rarely speaks on camera and yet she is never not there, ever-present with a wide smile and her eyes fixed on the president.
She is Natalie Harp, the 35-year-old West Wing aide who is the utmost gatekeeper to President Trump, a one-woman conduit of information operating entirely outside the usual chain of command. The public’s interest in Ms. Harp exploded after she was revealed last week to be one of the lucky few who joined the president inside an airplane catering container to be whisked out of Turkey under threat of attack by Iran.
This week she became the subject of a political attack line delivered by Jon Ossoff, the Democratic senator from Georgia, who said of the president: “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
The senator’s singling out of Ms. Harp triggered a particularly ferocious response from many corners of Trump world. White House aides, lawmakers on Capitol Hill, conservative influencers and at least one cabinet member took to the ramparts on X to defend Ms. Harp’s honor. There were accusations of sexism from the right and cries of snowflakery from the left. Mr. Trump deflected when a reporter from CNN asked him about Mr. Ossoff’s comments. But a social media account run by the administration then attacked the reporter in unusually personal terms, invoking her children.
The furor intensified the spotlight on this seldom-heard-from and sylphlike woman who has long fascinated and frustrated people around the president. This article is based on interviews with a half-dozen people with knowledge of her role. Ms. Harp did not respond to a request for comment.
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