New Delhi: White House aide Natalie Harp has become the centre of a political controversy after Democratic senator Jon Ossoff said US President Donald Trump prioritises “travel with Natalie” over his duties. The 35-year-old executive assistant, known as Trump’s ‘human printer’, has drawn attention to her close access to the president.
During a trip to a New York courthouse in October 2023, there was reportedly no seat for her in Trump’s motorcade. Rather than stay behind, Harp climbed into the boot of an SUV, according to CNN, which cited two sources and a photograph of the incident.
The episode has since become one of the clearest images of how determined Harp is to remain close to Trump.
That closeness has taken on new significance after Ossoff, a Democratic senator from Georgia who is seeking re-election, singled her out during a campaign rally in Atlanta on 16 August.
“While the sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through meetings, golfs and trades stocks,” Ossoff told the crowd. “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenceless flying palace, gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
What is Natalie Harp’s job?
Harp is not a cabinet official or a traditional senior policy adviser. Her formal White House positions are special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president.
But Harp’s access to Trump has made her an unusually important figure in his inner circle. The Washington Post described her as one of Trump’s most loyal and longest-serving aides, while other reports have portrayed her as a gatekeeper who controls much of the information reaching the president.
One of the most recognisable parts of her job is carrying a printer around with her.
Trump prefers reading material on paper, and Harp is known for printing news stories, social media posts, and other material for him to read. That habit earned her the nickname “human printer”. She has also been involved in managing Trump’s social media activity, including dictating or helping prepare posts for his Truth Social account.
Her role has raised concerns among some people around Trump. Reports have said that she can act as a filter between the president and the information he receives, with some aides worried about the material she brings to him.
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Adoring, intimate letters
Harp’s relationship with Trump goes back several years. In 2019, she became publicly known after crediting Trump’s “Right to Try” law with helping her obtain experimental treatment after she was diagnosed with bone cancer. Experts later questioned whether the law had actually played the role she described, but the episode brought her to Trump’s attention.
She spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention and later worked for One America News Network, where she prompted false claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. She left OANN in 2022 and subsequently began working directly with Trump.
By the 2024 campaign, she had become a regular presence around him. She often travelled with Trump and brought her printer and laptop so she could provide him with material to read.
When Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Harp became his executive assistant.
Harp’s loyalty to Trump has been described in unusually personal terms. In their 2026 book Regime Change, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reported that Harp left Trump adoring and intimate letters in his personal spaces. One letter said that he was “all that matters” to her. The report said the letters raised eyebrows among Secret Service personnel.
Trump has also reportedly spoken warmly about Harp’s loyalty, telling staff that she would never leave him.
Her proximity has not been limited to ordinary White House duties. Harp was among a small group of people who travelled with Trump during a secretive flight from Turkey in July, when the president was moved from Air Force One during a security scare. Other cabinet officials, journalists, and aides were reportedly left on the aircraft.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)