Natalie Harp, a 35-year-old executive assistant to President Donald Trump, has been thrust into the national spotlight after Senator Jon Ossoff invoked her name during a campaign rally, drawing sharp responses from the White House and Trump allies who rushed to defend the longtime aide.
At a reelection campaign event in Atlanta on Sunday, the Georgia Democrat criticized Trump’s focus in office. “He golfs and trades stocks,” Ossoff said. “See, 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,” referring to the new Air Force One plane. When asked about the comments, Trump likened Ossoff to “Pee-wee Herman” and said he “would much rather do other things.”
The comment placed renewed attention on Harp, who has become one of Trump’s most visible and loyal staffers. Her official title is special assistant to the President and executive assistant to the President—a role that typically involves coordination and secretarial duties but has taken on outsized influence in Trump’s hands.
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Harp is known throughout Trump’s orbit as the “human printer” because she carries a portable printer to provide Trump with hard copies of articles and social media posts, which he prefers to read on paper. She also types out Trump’s Truth Social posts as he dictates them, giving her significant control over what information reaches the president and what messages he sends to the public. Video that circulated this week showed Trump watching a 2024 speech by then-Vice President Kamala Harris and dictating posts to Harp in real time, which she typed and posted with his signature style, according to the Washington Post.
Harp’s rise in Trump’s orbit began with a personal story. Diagnosed with stage 2 bone cancer in the early 2010s, she credited Trump’s Right to Try Act—signed during his first term—with saving her life by giving her access to experimental treatments. She spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, telling the crowd: “When I failed the chemotherapies that were on the market, no one wanted me in their clinical trials. They didn’t give me the right to try experimental treatments, Mr. President. You did, and without you, I’d have died waiting for them to be approved.” Medical experts later cast doubt on whether the law actually enabled her treatment, since the drug she used had already been FDA-approved.
After Trump lost the 2020 election, Harp worked as a host at One America News Network, a far-right outlet, where she promoted Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen. She left OAN in 2022 to join Trump’s 2024 campaign and subsequently moved into the White House when he took office in 2025.
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Harp was among a small group of people who joined Trump when he secretly swapped planes leaving Turkey in July after receiving intelligence about a potential Iranian assassination threat. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was also on the secret plane, but higher-ranking Cabinet officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained on the decoy aircraft, according to CBS News and the Washington Post. New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman told MSNOW that Harp was brought along “because she is sort of his binky, for lack of a better way of putting it, a comfort blanket.”
The nature of Harp’s relationship with Trump has drawn scrutiny. According to the New York Times, Harp wrote Trump several letters in 2023 that concerned some people near him, including messages such as “You are all that matters to me” and “I don’t ever want to let you down.” She called Trump her “Guardian and Protector in this Life.” The Times also reported, citing two sources, that Trump said at one point in 2023 that Harp was the only person on his team who cared about him.
When Harp’s estranged brother, Preston Harp, was asked about the letters during a CNN appearance this week, he described his sister’s devotion as stemming from a lifelong “infatuation” rooted in her mother’s teachings about respect. He said Harp had written letters to previous presidents, including George W. Bush during the Iraq War, and that her “dream came true finally” when she reached the White House. “I think that Trump’s best friends are people who are his fan club,” Preston said. “And so she’s his biggest fan. And so that’s probably why he likes her.”
In response to Ossoff’s comments, the White House and Trump allies moved swiftly to defend Harp. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle called Ossoff’s remarks “cringeworthy” and described Harp as “one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump’s team.” Eric Trump, the president’s son, posted on X: “Natalie is an incredible young woman—a cancer survivor, a genuinely good person, and arguably one of the hardest-working people in the White House.” Political commentator Bill O’Reilly also defended Harp, calling Ossoff’s attack inappropriate.
The spotlight on Harp reflects a broader tension in Trump’s administration over the influence of longtime aides who have no formal Cabinet role yet wield significant power. Unlike traditional executive assistants, Harp’s proximity to Trump and her role managing his information flow and social media presence have given her an influence that extends well beyond typical secretarial duties. As one of Trump’s most visible staffers, she represents the kind of personal loyalty and constant availability that Trump has consistently valued in his inner circle.
Sources
- Time — Harp’s background, bone cancer diagnosis, Right to Try Act, 2020 RNC speech, letters to Trump, her role typing Truth Social posts, Trump’s comment about her, White House defense, Eric Trump’s statement
- Washington Post — Harp’s official title, “human printer” role, her control over Trump’s information flow, work at OAN, the secret plane swap in Turkey, Maggie Haberman’s comment about Harp as a “binky,” Ossoff’s specific comments at the rally, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle’s statement
- BBC News — Harp’s age, Ossoff’s comments, her role typing Truth Social posts, the secret plane swap, Preston Harp’s CNN interview about his sister’s letters and infatuation, Maggie Haberman’s reporting on Harp as a “comfort blanket,” medical experts’ doubt about the Right to Try claim
- CBS News — The secret plane swap in Turkey and which officials were on each plane
