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

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

Ossoff, who aspires to revalidate his tycoon status as senator for Georgia, included Harp in passing 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 gave him." Of all the corruptions the Democrat hinted at, the only one that triggered the White House's response was the reference to the assistant.

"Instead of denigrating working people who serve their country, Jon should look deep into his being and ask himself why he is a miserable person who hates this country," Steven Cheung, White House communications director, replied on Monday on X, a figure who tweets little and, even less, gets involved in unnecessary controversies. From the Oval Office, that same day, Trump lashed out at Ossoff and compared him to Pee-Wee Herman, a US comic character characterized by 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 function, as revealed during the 2024 election campaign, is to draft the Truth Social posts that the Republican dictates to her. Back then, a video went viral showing Harp in action: while the Republican followed Kamala Harris's speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago, he was dictating to her live 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 am no longer dying of cancer. Thanks to President Trump, I am living with cancer," she told Fox at the time. This appearance earned her an invitation to participate in the 2020 Republican National Convention.

In 2022, she began working as the president's personal assistant and, since then, has steadily risen to become an almost indispensable figure for the Republican. In addition to writing his Truth Social posts, she is also the main person responsible for relaying the day's news to Trump. Harp acts as a filter for the president and, many times, when he states something, he does so based on what she has told him. In part, her role is also to ensure that the tycoon is up to date on news and positive publications about him.

In 2024, the New York Times revealed a series of letters that Harp had sent to Trump and that 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 posts about him on social media.