Who is Natalie Harp, Trump's advisor that the White House defends to the hilt

WashingtonThe comment made by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff on Sunday about Natalie Harp, assistant to US President Donald Trump, could have remained a mere anecdote. But the fury with which the White House reacted has dragged the 35-year-old assistant, who often appears in the tycoon's photos, to center stage, highlighting the woman's omnipresence in the president's daily life.

Ossoff, who is seeking to renew his mandate as senator for Georgia, incidentally included Harp in a long criticism against Trump. "He doesn't want to do the job [...]. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie in his flying palace, apparently defenseless, which the Emir of Qatar gifted him." Of all the corruptions the Democrat insinuated, the only one that triggered the White House's response was the reference to the assistant.

"Instead of denigrating hardworking people who serve their country, Jon should look deep within himself and ask why he is a miserable person who hates this country," Steven Cheung, White House communications director, replied on X on Monday, a figure who tweets little and even less gets entangled in unnecessary controversies. From the Oval Office, on the same day, Trump attacked Ossoff and compared him to Pee-Wee Herman, a US comic character known for his eccentricity.

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Whether in the Oval Office or disembarking Air Force One, Harp always appears behind the tycoon as if she were his shadow. Her main role, as revealed during the 2024 election campaign, is to draft the Truth Social posts that the Republican dictates to her. Then, a video went viral in which Harp appeared in action: while the Republican followed Kamala Harris's speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago, she was dictating to him in real-time the tweets with which he responded to the attacks his rival was launching at him. Harp is primarily responsible for drafting the publications that for a year and a half have turned the stock markets into a roller coaster. Without holding an official position, she has unofficially been dubbed the human printer.

Her closeness to the tycoon is such that she was one of the few cabinet members evacuated with the President of the United States from Air Force One when he was returning from Turkey. The assistant flew with Trump on Air Force C-32, while other high-ranking members, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, remained on board the aircraft threatened by Iran.

The woman appeared on the president's radar in 2019, when she explained that she had managed to survive bone cancer thanks to the right to try law, which Trump approved during his first term. It is a law that allows very ill patients to access experimental drugs and treatments that have already passed phase one of clinical trials but have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "I'm not dying of cancer anymore. Thanks to President Trump, I'm living with cancer," she told Fox at the time. This appearance earned her an invitation to participate in the Republican National Convention in 2020.

In 2022, she began working as the president's personal assistant and, since then, has been rising to become an almost indispensable figure for the Republican. In addition to writing his Truth Social posts, she is also primarily responsible for relaying the day's news to Trump. Harp acts as a filter for the president and, often, when he states something, it is based on what she has told him. In part, her role is also to ensure that the tycoon stays up-to-date with news and positive publications about him.

In 2024, the New York Times revealed a series of letters that Harp had sent to Trump and which had proven disturbing to the tycoon's circle. In one of them, she told the tycoon: "You are the only one I care about." On one occasion, while Trump was playing golf in Scotland, she ran after his golf cart to keep him updated on positive news and publications about him on social media.