Her devotion to the American president was already well known and widely commented on in political-media circles in Washington, but a small sentence from a Democratic senator – Jon Ossoff – propelled Natalie Harp, Donald Trump’s omnipresent aide, into the spotlight.
The White House organizational chart gives her two official titles: “special assistant” to the head of state and “executive assistant”, for a salary of $150,000 per year.
“Doudou” of the president
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, one of the best informed on Donald Trump, attributes to him a role as a “soft comforter” to the 80-year-old leader, a familiar and always comforting presence.
There are few photos of the Republican president that do not include this slender 35-year-old woman, with platinum blonde hair and eyes always lined with eyeliner. Whether it’s during the most solemn of obligations, such as the return of the bodies of soldiers killed in the Middle East, or during a golf weekend, Natalie Harp is there.
The assistant is, according to the press, one of the rare people to have accompanied Donald Trump recently during a change of planes in Turkey aboard a supply truck, an incredible security operation in which the head of diplomacy Marco Rubio and other senior officials were not associated.
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This was not lost on Jon Ossoff. During a rally, the Democratic senator from Georgia said about the president: “He doesn’t want to do his job anymore. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie.”
The remark triggered massive and coordinated indignation from the billionaire’s loyalists, as well as an avalanche of press articles and a number of mocking comments on social networks.
Natalie Harp “is one of the most loyal and hardworking aides on President Trump’s team,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded to a request for comment from AFP. “The media should start providing real information again,” he added.
“The Human Printer”
Journalists who follow Donald Trump know Natalie Harp as “the human printer”, because she constantly supplies the US president, who prefers paper, with printed documents.
The press also gives him a crucial role in running Donald Trump’s account on his Truth Social network, which publishes major geopolitical announcements, insulting remarks and photo or video montages of all kinds.
Natalie Harp was noticed by the Republican, always glued to his small screen, after having assured on television that he had saved her life while she was fighting against bone cancer.
Donald Trump then invited her to his side, during a religious convention in 2019, to tell how a decision taken during his first term (2017-2021) had allowed him to benefit from a still experimental treatment.
In the trunk of a car?
On stage, Natalie Harp described the billionaire as her “good Samaritan” and promised, her voice broken with emotion: “We will fight for you!”
A time presenter on the far-right channel OAN, she subsequently propagated the false claims of the Trumpist camp about an alleged manipulation of the 2020 presidential election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Washington has been buzzing for several days with striking anecdotes about the apparently boundless dedication, but also the very great influence, of the tireless assistant, described as a free electron within the White House.
CNN thus claims that, due to a lack of reserved space in the convoy taking Donald Trump to a court appearance in New York, she one day slipped into the trunk of a car to accompany him anyway.
The New York Times reports that in 2023 she would have sent letters to Donald Trump of such fervor that it worried those close to the president, containing remarks such as “You are all that matters to me” and “I want to bring you joy”.
Several supporters of the Republican have accused questions about the role of Natalie Harp as “misogynistic”. The Democratic opposition considers it legitimate to question the influence of a paid assistant on public funds, while recalling that the American president himself has launched numerous sexist attacks against political adversaries or journalists.
With AFP
