Overview
- Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Aug. 16 rally remark that Mr. Trump would “travel with Natalie” sent Harp into the national spotlight and made her a focal point of campaign and media debate.
- Harp is officially the special assistant and executive assistant to the president and has been nicknamed the “human printer” for carrying a portable printer and supplying the president with printed articles and drafted social posts.
- Reporting by multiple outlets has reinforced accounts of Harp’s unusual access, including her presence on the small group that switched planes with the president in Turkey and a CNN-sourced report that she climbed into the trunk of an SUV in October 2023 to join his motorcade.
- The New York Times described gushing letters Harp left for the president that alarmed some colleagues, and fact-checkers have challenged her public claim that Right to Try law enabled the specific cancer treatment she later received.
- The White House has vigorously defended Harp as a loyal, hard-working aide while conservatives decry the coverage as sexist and liberal media bias, and others warn the episode could intensify scrutiny of gatekeeping, security practices and partisan attacks on staff access.