Few people in the circle of the United States president have been as frequently at his side as Natalie Harp in recent years. The 35-year-old official, one of Trump's most loyal and longest-serving collaborators, is tasked with drafting his posts on Truth Social, among other responsibilities.
She returned to the centre of attention this week when Democratic senator Jon Ossoff mentioned her by name during a speech that went viral. Ossoff criticised Trump for "travelling with Natalie on his apparently defenceless flying palace, a gift from the emir of Qatar", referring to the new Air Force One, and noted that Harp accompanied Trump when he secretly changed planes upon leaving Turkey last month.
A native of California and member of a conservative Christian family, Harp came to prominence by crediting Trump with saving her life. During his first administration, Trump succeeded in getting the Right to Try Act approved to provide patients greater access to experimental treatments, which Harp used to treat her bone cancer. "Without you, I would have died waiting for them to be approved," she said at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Following Trump's defeat in 2020, Harp worked as a presenter at One America News Network, where she became known as a Trump defender and denier of election results. She left the network in 2022 to join Trump's next presidential campaign.
Her current official position is executive assistant to the president, a role that typically involves managing logistics and scheduling. However, according to all sources, Harp has given new meaning to this role. White House reporters frequently see her standing just a few feet from Trump in the Oval Office or boarding Air Force One on many of his trips. A source close to the White House told the BBC: "She's always there. Literally, always".
Members of the press frequently refer to her as the "human printer" because she is seen carrying a portable printer to provide Trump with printed copies of articles. According to a source familiar with White House operations, this means Harp has an outsized ability to control what information Trump receives. Other anonymous sources have described her as a "gatekeeper" and a "protective blanket".
Harp also drafts posts on Truth Social on Trump's behalf. In an image released following Ossoff's comments, she is seen writing a post in the president's distinctive style while he dictates to her. Amid recent attention on Harp, the White House has described her as a "trusted and valuable" member of the team, though Trump has rarely spoken about her on camera.
Most accounts of Trump's opinion of Harp come from anonymous second-hand sources in books by journalists such as Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Michael Wolff. Haberman, questioned about why Trump took Harp on the secret plane from Turkey, noted: "Because she is like his security blanket, for want of a better way of putting it, his protective blanket". Haberman and Swan reported in 2024 that Harp had supposedly written in a letter to Trump: "You are all that matters to me".
