President Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp has been mocked over her apparent devotion to her boss on both Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel Live over the past few days. Trump’s association with Harp has attracted criticism from political opponents, with Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff last month accusing the president of preferring to “travel with Natalie” than do his job. Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email on Sunday outside of regular office hours.
Harp, played by comedian Ashley Padilla, appeared in Saturday Night Live’s opening sketch on September 26 where she interrupted a meeting between Trump (James Austin Johnson) and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Ramy Youssef). After being informed he has a visitor in the sketch, Trump asks “what reckless lunatic would travel to see me in this kind of weather” at which point Harp enters and said she “ran here from D.C.” Referring to Harp, and referencing the 2025 movie about stalking, Trump says: “Isn’t she great? She’s like the girl from Obsession but blond.” Harp later leans in close to Mandani and, referring to Trump, says “if you hurt him, I will end you.” On Thursday, Harp also appeared to be satirized on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where the host was joined by “my assistant Natalie,” played by his real-life wife Molly McNearney.
Indicating to Kimmel, Natalie says “this man is my guardian and protector and I’m here to do whatever it is you need me to do.” She is sent away by Kimmel but swiftly reappears asking “do you need me now?” and questioning whether he has “any Truths you’d like to post,” an apparent reference to Trump sharing his thought on his Truth Social website. Natalie looks distraught after Kimmel tells her “I really don’t need you right now,” but is placated by the host adding “because you’ve taken care of everything already.” Kimmel asks cast member Guillermo Rodríguez to take Harp “back stage” to which she replies: “Back stage? I can’t hear you backstage, I can’t smell you backstage, I can’t wipe you backstage…your wife doesn’t deserve you.” Harp first came to Trump’s attention in 2019, when she wrote a LinkedIn post stating his Right to Try Act of 2018 had saved her life during cancer treatment, and later appeared on Fox News.
She spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention and went on to become a host for conservative TV station One America News Network until leaving in 2022. According to The Washington Post, she began working for Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida later that year, and was nicknamed “the human printer” as she would regularly print material for her boss to read. Harp worked for Trump during the 2024 presidential election, with journalist Michael Wolff saying she functioned as his “gatekeeper” in his 2025 book ‘All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America,' before joining the reinaugurated president in the White House as an executive assistant in January 2025.
Harp became known for her loyalty and devotion to Trump, with The Daily Beast acquiring letters she’d written to her boss in 2023 in which she said “you are all that matters to me” and “Thank you for being my Guardian and Protector in this Life.” In a letter from the same year viewed by The New York Times, Harp apologized to Trump after she was filmed running after his golf cart at his course in Scotland, saying: “I want things to always be right between us.” On Saturday, Harp was pictured showing Trump something on her laptop when she accompanied him to the University of Tennessee vs. University of Texas football game in Knoxville. Earlier this month, two photographs went viral on social media, which purported to show Trump and Harp kissing on a golf course.
However, they have since been dismissed as AI-generated fakes, containing several visual anomalies associated with AI generation, including what appears to be a sixth finger on one of Harp’s hands. Harp accompanied Trump on a visit to Ireland earlier this month, with journalist Aaron Rupar sharing a photograph of Harp at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Dublin on X commenting: “Look who made the trip to Ireland! #TravelWithNatalie.” In response the official White House, Rapid Response 47 X account posted: “President Trump does, in fact, travel with staff. Aaron, on the other hand, is a sick, deluded freak (in his 40s) who sits behind a keyboard and posts creepy things like this.” Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Cristina Diciu.
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