Some former Trump administration staff are puzzled by the meteoric rise of executive assistant Natalie Harp, insisting "there's something weird going on" between the president and his 35-year-old aide. Former White House Deputy Secretary Sarah Matthews said she knew Harp during President Trump's first administration, as well as his reelection campaign in 2020, noting that the upstart staffer tried to be as valuable as possible early on. "I remember her messaging me all the time, asking how she could be more helpful," Matthews told MS NOW on Wednesday.
"And it was very obvious to me at that time that she wanted to be in the MAGA world and be in Trump's orbit. And obviously over time, she has now risen the ranks to be one of his closest aides." Harp simply has the "ear of the president," Matthews said. "She serves as an executive assistant for him, but also she is one of the gatekeepers of information for him and controls his social media," Matthews said.
"That is something that he only entrusts with very few people, so it shows the level of trust he has in her to me." Harp had been behind a racist video that depicted former President Barack Obama as an ape posted by President Trump's social media account in February, Matthews said. "She is the one that's feeding him some of these nasty things that he has posted," Matthews said. "So, she's feeding him AI slop in addition to lavishing him with praise and feeding him positive tweets and news articles to boost his ego." Matthews characterized Harp as a "sycophant" who makes Trump feel good about himself while boosting his ego.
"He likes the way that she makes him feel," Matthews said of the relationship, which has received additional scrutiny following criticism by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, who referenced Harp while criticizing Trump's work habits and prompted a sharp response from the White House. Matthews said Republicans criticized Ossoff for seemingly insinuating a sexual relationship between Trump and Harp when the senator claimed Trump only wants to build his ballroom and "travel with Natalie," but the former White House press secretary disagreed with that assessment. "I look at the relationship between the two, and I just think there's something weird going on in the sense of her extreme devotion, borderline obsession with the president," Matthews said.
"And I think that a lot of aides who are working in Trump 2.0 feel the same." Davis Ingle, White House spokesman, told Newsweek, “Natalie Harp is one of the most loyal and hardest-working aides on President Trump's team. The Fake News’s continued attacks on President Trump and his Administration prove exactly why trust in media is at historic lows. The media should get back to reporting real news and stop regurgitating Trump-Deranged liberal talking points.” Harp, 35, rose to prominence after publicly crediting Trump and his "Right to Try" legislation with helping save her life after being diagnosed with cancer.
Her intense advocacy eventually landed her in Trump's orbit, where she served a variety of roles, including campaign surrogate, campaign aide and later executive assistant to the president. Ossoff, who is seeking reelection this November in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races, called out Harp during a campaign speech on Sunday, insisting Trump preferred to "travel with Natalie" instead of serving as president. Prediction markets quickly shifted Ossoff's standing among potential 2028 Democratic presidential nominees.
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