RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Some former Trump administration staff are puzzled by the meteoric rise of executive assistant Natalie Harp, insisting "there's something weird going on" between the president and his 35-year-old aide.
Former White House Deputy Secretary Sarah Matthews said she knew Harp during President Trump's first administration, as well as his reelection campaign in 2020, noting that the upstart staffer tried to be as valuable as possible early on.
"I remember her messaging me all the time, asking how she could be more helpful," Matthews told MS NOW on Wednesday. "And it was very obvious to me at that time that she wanted to be in the MAGA world and be in Trump's orbit. And obviously over time, she has now risen the ranks to be one of his closest aides."
Harp simply has the "ear of the president," Matthews said.
"She serves as an executive assistant for him, but also she is one of the gatekeepers of information for him and controls his social media," Matthews said. "That is something that he only entrusts with very few people, so it shows the level of trust he has in her to me."
Harp had been behind a racist video that depicted former President Barack Obama as an ape posted by President Trump's social media account in February, Matthews said.
"She is the one that's feeding him some of these nasty things that he has posted," Matthews said. "So, she's feeding him AI slop in addition to lavishing him with praise and feeding him positive tweets and news articles to boost his ego."
Matthews characterized Harp as a "sycophant" who makes Trump feel good about himself while boosting his ego.
"He likes the way that she makes him feel," Matthews said of the relationship, which has received additional scrutiny following criticism by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who referenced Harp while criticizing Trump's work habits and prompted a sharp response from the White House.
Matthews said Republicans criticized Ossoff for seemingly insinuating a sexual relationship between Trump and Harp when the senator claimed Trump only wants to build his ballroom and "travel with Natalie," but the former White House press secretary disagreed with that assessment.
"I look at the relationship between the two, and I just think there's something weird going on in the sense of her extreme devotion, borderline obsession with the president," Matthews said. "And I think that a lot of aides who are working in Trump 2.0 feel the same."
Davis Ingle, White House spokesman, told Newsweek, “Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump's team. The Fake News’s continued attacks on President Trump and his Administration prove exactly why trust in media is at historic lows. The media should get back to reporting real news and stop regurgitating Trump-Deranged liberal talking points.”
Harp, 35, rose to prominence after publicly crediting Trump and his "Right to Try" legislation with helping save her life after being diagnosed with cancer. Her intense advocacy eventually landed her in Trump's orbit, where she served a variety of roles, including campaign surrogate, campaign aide and later executive assistant to the president.
Harp's incessant public praise of Trump quickly elevated her profile among conservatives, ultimately leading Trump to invite her to events where he highlighted her story as an example of the administration's healthcare policies. As her visibility grew, she became a regular presence in Republican circles. The relationship soon became formalized when Trump named Harp to the advisory board of his 2020 reelection campaign, marking her transition from health care advocate to political surrogate.
Harp later addressed the 2020 Republican National Convention, delivering a speech that focused heavily on her health battle and gratitude toward Trump.
She later joined One America News Network in 2020 and remained a staunch supporter of Trump while maintaining ties to his political network.
After leaving OAN in 2022, Harp joined Trump's post-presidency team and gradually became an increasingly trusted aide as he prepared another White House run.
Harp's responsibilities then expanded dramatically during Trump's 2024 campaign, becoming known as the president's "human printer" due to her penchant for carrying a portable printer to serve up hard copies of favorable news articles while traveling. Harp also reportedly often types and publishes Truth Social posts dictated to her directly by Trump.
Secret Service agents eventually viewed Harp as a security consideration, while aides, including incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles, were reportedly unsettled by her access, according to Regime Change , a book published in June by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
Karoline Leavitt, who announced earlier this month that she's leaving her role as White House press secretary, has fiercely defended Trump's highest-profile assistant.
"Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump’s team," Leavitt told the New York Times on Tuesday.
White House communications director Steven Cheung also publicly criticized Ossoff following his comments on Harp.
"Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics," Cheung wrote on X on Monday. "Instead of denigrating hard-working people serving their country, Jon should look deep into his soul and ask himself why he's a miserable person who hates this country. It's because he's a radical, extremist Dumocrat."
Other Trump loyalists, like Republican Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican, have called Ossoff's comments "sexist and misogynistic" on X while insisting "attractive women can be qualified, hard workers, and in positions of power."
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has also defended Harp, ch...
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