Trump Allies Blast Ossoff Over Natalie Harp Crack

Trump Allies Blast Ossoff Over Natalie Harp Crack

Editorial engraving of a senator speaking at a lectern

The News

Sen. Jon Ossoff is under a coordinated attack from President Trump, his White House staff and conservative commentators over a line about Trump's longtime aide Natalie Harp that his critics say implied an affair.

At a rally in Georgia on Sunday, Ossoff said of Trump: "He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace."

Harp, 35, is Trump's executive assistant and a cancer survivor. She is a fixture at his side and helps run part of his communications operation, including typing social media posts he dictates.

Ossoff, a Democrat, is up for re-election this November.

Timeline

2018:

Harp gains national attention by publicly crediting Trump with saving her life through his support for the federal Right to Try law, which he signed that year.

2020:

Harp speaks at the Republican National Convention, then goes to work directly for Trump.

July 2026:

Harp is among the few aides who travel with Trump when he discreetly switches to a military jet while flying out of Turkey over security concerns — the episode The Independent reports Ossoff was referring to.

Sunday, Aug. 16:

Ossoff delivers the "flying palace" line at his Georgia rally.

Tuesday, Aug. 18:

Trump, asked about the remark, compares Ossoff's appearance to Pee-wee Herman. White House staff and allied commentators pile on through the day and evening.

Wednesday, Aug. 19:

The fight is still running, with Democratic strategist David Axelrod joining the critics.

Reactions

Conservative commentator Scott Jennings — rumored to be a candidate to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary — called Ossoff a "garbage human" on his podcast Tuesday evening. "He unleashed a comment, so vile against a young Republican woman working in politics, that every woman in this country, no matter your ideology, ought to listen carefully and never forget it," Jennings said.

Jennings said the senator was insinuating Harp was "sleeping with her boss" to get her job. "She is a smart, talented person who wants to serve her country and the president," he said. "But for Jon Ossoff and the Democrats, well, she's there because she's a pretty blonde who must be sleeping with her boss. How else would she have gotten a job like that?"

Megyn Kelly went after Ossoff on Tuesday's edition of her SiriusXM show. "I think ... this is despicable because — why would you attack a 35-year-old cancer survivor as a possible affair partner to the president of the United States when you have absolutely nothing to back that up?" she said. Kelly said the implication was obvious: "He doesn't say it explicitly. Is clearly that they're having an affair."

Kelly argued Ossoff was trying to build a brawler image — "He wanted to generate some buzz as a tough guy" — and said the episode could hurt him if he runs for president, which she predicted he will.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung called Ossoff "the biggest cuck loser in politics" on X. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement that Ossoff is "a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama," adding that "nobody gives a s---" what he says. Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham called the attack "bizarre" and "choreographed."

Ossoff did not embrace the affair reading. Pressed on MSNBC by former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki on why he singled out Harp, he described Trump as retreating into a "bubble of West Wing aides who are his security blanket." Kelly called that "a dodge and a lie."

Democratic strategist David Axelrod also criticized the remark, saying it "distracted and detracted," according to The Hill.

What's Next

Ossoff faces voters in Georgia in the November midterms, and Republicans have shown no sign of dropping the line — Kelly framed it as a future liability in a presidential run.

Leavitt's pending departure from the press secretary job is fueling competition among White House aides and allies to look the most combative, which is part of why the response escalated so fast.

The New York Post said it has sought comment from Ossoff and the White House; The Independent said it has asked Ossoff's office for comment.

More

The fight has put more scrutiny on Harp, not less. She is nicknamed "the human printer" for physically printing flattering social media posts, op-eds and messages for Trump to read, and she is routinely photographed beside him holding a stack of papers.

Her loyalty has drawn its own coverage: the New York Times reported she wrote Trump letters saying "you are all that matters to me," and her brother, Preston Harp, described the relationship between Trump and his sister as "very unhealthy" in an interview with the Daily Mail.

The core dispute is unchanged: whether Ossoff's line was a claim about a romantic relationship, as Trump's allies insist, or a jab at Trump's work habits and travel, as Ossoff says.

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