Trump Aide Rode SUV Trunk After Screaming Match
Trump Aide Rode SUV Trunk After Screaming Match
The News
Natalie Harp, President Donald Trump's executive assistant, once climbed into the trunk of an SUV so she would not be left out of his motorcade, CNN reported Tuesday.
It happened in October 2023, when Trump was due at a New York City courthouse and there was no room for Harp in the vehicles idling outside his Trump Tower residence. Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN a screaming match broke out in the lobby, with Harp insisting Trump had personally asked her to attend. CNN said the trunk ride was confirmed by a photo it obtained.
The previously unreported episode landed in the middle of a week of unusual scrutiny of Harp, 35, set off by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia — and a furious response from the White House.
Who She Is
Harp's official title is special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president, at an annual salary of $150,000, according to White House staff records cited by The Guardian.
Her unofficial nickname is the "human printer." The New York Times reported in 2024 that campaign colleagues used it because she followed Trump with a portable printer and a battery pack, handing him information in hard copy the way he prefers.
CNN reports she has become a main conduit between Trump and the outside world — relaying messages from allies, setting up meetings, tapping out Truth Social posts and carrying printouts of favorable articles, while staying physically close to him at nearly all hours.
"[Trump] likes the attention and the fact that she is 100% committed and loyal," one White House adviser told CNN. "She doesn't second guess, doesn't question."
Timeline
Harp, a bone cancer survivor from California, writes a LinkedIn post crediting Trump's 2018 Right to Try Act with giving her access to experimental treatment. Fox News books her; Trump praises her on social media.
Harp addresses the Republican National Convention, telling Trump, "I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for you." A Washington Post article that month cast doubt on the claim, noting experts said her description of her treatment and its timeline made it unlikely Trump had any effect on her case.
Harp joins One America News Network as a presenter, where she amplified Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
She leaves OANN and begins working for Trump, then a former president facing criminal cases.
The SUV trunk episode outside Trump Tower, first reported by CNN this week.
When Trump secretly switched planes in Turkey over an alleged Iranian assassination threat, Harp was among the few staff who joined him on a military aircraft while others stayed on a decoy Air Force One.
Ossoff attacks Trump in a campaign speech, saying the president would rather "build his ballroom and travel with Natalie" than do his job, and referring to the Qatar-gifted aircraft. The remark goes viral.
CNN publishes the trunk account; the White House defends Harp on the record.
Reactions
White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended Harp on Tuesday as "one of the most loyal and hardest working aides on President Trump's team."
The administration's response to Ossoff was blistering. The White House repeatedly called the senator a "cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid" and a "lightweight loser," according to CNN. Trump also lashed out at CNN reporter Kristen Holmes on Monday when she asked about Ossoff's comments, and the White House "Rapid Response" account posted at Holmes: "Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question."
Others close to the White House said Ossoff's mention of Harp made false insinuations about an aide largely unknown to voters who had done nothing to invite the attention. One person familiar with the matter described her relationship with Trump to CNN as "father-daughter."
Inside the building, CNN reports, Harp's methods have irked senior aides, who have at times tried to box her out. Advisers who wanted private meetings with Trump have found Harp sitting in, one source said, and she has told colleagues she reports only to Trump — a sore point for staff who work through the chain of command. A White House official pushed back, saying she works well with most colleagues.
Political commentator Kurt Bardella told The Guardian the White House overplayed it: "There's something in life called a proportional response and what we saw from the White House was a massive response, which only further encourages questions and intrigue."
What's Next
Nobody in Trump's orbit expects the attention to cost Harp anything. CNN reports that even among aides long wary of her unusual authority in the West Wing, there was little expectation the scrutiny would weaken her standing — least of all with the president.
Ossoff, a possible 2028 presidential contender, has not backed off the line, and The Guardian reports the administration's response has raised his standing among Democrats. Expect more reporting on Harp's role, particularly her access to Trump's Truth Social account.
More
That access has already been a flashpoint. Earlier this year Trump posted, then deleted, a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. CNN reports that allies and advisers privately speculated Harp was responsible, since she was one of a small number of aides with access to the account — but were reluctant to say so publicly, fearing it would only deepen Trump's support for her.
In their book "Regime Change," New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan wrote that Harp sent Trump adoring letters, including one reading, "You are all that matters to me," and another describing him as her "Guardian and Protector in this Life."
Harp's estranged brother, Preston Harp, told the Daily Beast last month: "I think that she does see Trump as a kind of father figure because he embodies the doctrine of American exceptionalism."
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