RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 2 sourcesThe longtime presidential aide was one of three staffers who flew aboard a separate flight with the president to evade a possible Iranian missile attack in July
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The Trump White House staffer once labeled as the president’s “human printer” now has a new nickname after she was revealed to be one of the few aides chosen to accompany him during his clandestine escape from Air Force One in Turkey after this year’s NATO summit last month.
According to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, the president chose executive assistant Natalie Harp to be among the trio who joined him in an airline catering truck to secretly transfer from the Air Force One Boeing 747 to a smaller plane for a flight from Ankara to RAF Mildenhall because she serves as a living security blanket for the 80-year-old chief executive.
"Natalie Harp, because she is sort of his Binkie, for lack of a better way of putting it — his comfort blanket,” Haberman said during an appearance on MSNOW Sunday while explaining his choices to host Jacob Soboroff.
Haberman similarly said Trump chose the other two aides who joined him — Walt Nauta and Dan Scavino — because of their long tenure serving him in sensitive roles, with Scavino’s employment dating back decades to his days as a teenage golf caddy at one of Trump’s golf clubs.
Nauta, whose title is director of Oval Office Operations, was once Trump’s military valet during his first term but followed him into political exile in Florida after he lost the 2020 election, later becoming a co-defendant in the case brought against Trump for allegedly illegally retaining classified documents at his Florida home after the end of his first term.
According to Haberman, the former Navy Chief Petty Officer still functions like a body man and is always carrying a brown briefcase that accompanies the president — containing hair spray, breath mints and “all kinds of stuff."
But Trump’s relationship with Harp has taken on more and more scrutiny from the public in the days since his secret plane switch became public.
The 34-year-old had in the past attracted concerns from the Secret Service and others in his orbit for leaving notes declaring her admiration for the 80-year-old former reality TV host.
Harp’s brother, from whom she is estranged, has called her relationship with the president “unhealthy” and referred to her as Trump’s “fan club.”
She earned her “human printer” nickname because she regularly provides Trump with large-format printouts of news articles and social media posts, even his own.
But in recent years Harp has taken on yet another critical role in Trump’s orbit — authoring the Truth Social posts he often dictates.
A video from the Apple TV documentary The Art of the Surge shows Harp taking on that task that was previously performed by Scavino, while Trump and his top aides watched then-vice president Kamala Harris’ 2024 convention speech.
The Independent reported in February that Harp, a former right-wing television personality, has long been one of the people with access to Trump’s Truth Social account and was responsible for posting a racist video which depicted former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as apes.
Harp, who sits just outside the Oval Office during her work days, manages the president’s day to day social media posting — when he is not doing so himself.
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