She is called the “human printer” because she follows President Donald Trump wherever he goes with a portable printer to deliver him physical documents.
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Her name is Natalie Harp, executive assistant and one of the most visible figures in the close circle of the American president, always by his side, omnipresent. To those who have covered Trump for decades, the image of that 35-year-old blonde woman reminds them of the so-called girls, as the then real estate promoter called the secretaries who sat in the antechamber of his office, on the 26th floor of the Trump Tower in Manhattan.
While the first lady, Melania Trump, has disappeared from public view since the World Cup final was held on July 19 – given the uproar over her invisibility, the White House announced that she will participate in events this Thursday and Sunday -, Harp’s closeness to Trump has become more than evident in recent weeks.
She was part of a small selected group to accompany the 80-year-old president on his return trip from Turkey, where he attended a NATO meeting, after Trump was secretly transferred from Air Force One to another aircraft, using a catering truck, due to the alleged threat to his life from a possible Iranian-origin attack.
Other senior officials from his team, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and advisor Stephen Miller, as well as journalists traveling with the government delegation, remained on what ended up being a decoy plane.
But the matter gained more importance this week, even sparking insinuations that there is a professional and also intimate relationship, once Senator John Ossoff brought up that strange pair at a rally.
“You see, he doesn’t want to do the work,” Ossoff said. “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie in his seemingly defenseless flying palace, gifted by the Emir of Qatar,”
The mockery provoked a furious reaction in the MAGA world and led the president to lash out at Ossoff in the Oval Office, disqualifying him as “a Pee-wee Herman double,” a character from American pop culture representing the man-child.
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The controversy intensified attention on this slender woman, allergic to public speaking, who has long fascinated and caused headaches in the president’s official circle.
Harp, raised in California in a very religious family, only answers to Trump. This generates frustration because it means that, usually, Harp bypasses the traditional chain of command (to the chief of staff, the communications team, and national security advisors). That was what happened when a racist video depicting the Obamas as apes appeared on Trump’s social media. The result was an embarrassment for the White House.
The Wall Street Journal reported that it was Harp, following Trump’s instructions, who gave the order to publish that video, later removed.
According to Harp, her fascination with Trump started in 2018. She claims she suffered from bone cancer and that a law enacted by the president in his first term allowed her to access an experimental treatment, without explaining which one, that saved her life.
She explained this on Fox News in 2019. Her story caught Trump’s attention, who invited her to speak at the 2020 Republican convention. During the following two years, Harp repeated Trump’s lies about the false election theft as a presenter on the far-right channel One America News Network. In 2022, she finally joined his team.
One of her qualities is including very flattering personal notes about her boss among the informational material Trump gives her. Some of her writings end like this: “With all my heart, Natalie.” Preston Harp has spoken publicly about the relationship his sister maintains with Trump, calling it “unhealthy.”
In the book Regime change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Trump is described explaining to others that Harp is the only one who loves him as much as his wife and children. According to Trump, all other members of his team will end up leaving to make money, but Harp will never abandon him.
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