An extreme move Donald Trump’s personal aide Natalie Harp made to be close to the president has been revealed.
In October 2023, Trump, 80, was due to front a New York City courthouse over his latest legal issues. However, as his motorcade was ready to depart his Trump Tower residence, his staff realized there was no room for Harp, 35, in the vehicle.
CNN reported that two sources said a “screaming match” kicked off in the lobby, with Harp insisting the president had personally requested she attend the court appearance with him.
In an extraordinary move, Harp jumped into the trunk of an SUV, which was confirmed by the two sources and a photo witnessed by CNN.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes told Erin Burnett on OutFront on Tuesday that Harp’s willingness to travel in a trunk demonstrated “how much she cares about President Trump and how she wants to be in proximity to him.”
Holmes had more information on the 2023 incident, saying Trump’s staffers had not accounted for her position in the vehicle, which was due to head to the courthouse.
“She was told that,” Holmes said of Harp. “A screaming match then ensued in the lobby of Trump Tower at that time, with essentially Harp saying that the president had personally asked her to go, and she was so determined to not be left behind that she actually got in the trunk of one of the SUVs that was part of the motorcade, and sat there.”
Holmes said the photo she had obtained and reviewed showed that the trunk was “almost like a cargo hold,” but noted Harp was “so determined she was going to get that seat and go down to the court with President Trump.”
The CNN reporter added that Harp has “really made her role with President Trump indispensable.”
“She is the one who deals with lawmakers, and allies, and government liaisons; she is texting them messages from President Trump, articles that President Trump wants these lawmakers to see, and vice versa. They are reaching out to her if they want to get in touch with President Trump, if they want him to see something.”
Harp is nicknamed the “human printer” because she prints physical material for the president to review and offers potential items he can share on his Truth Social platform as part of her duties.
Holmes pointed out that Harp is “in proximity to President Trump all of the time,” and noted her “devotion” to the man who is over twice her age.
The CNN reporter cited political insiders who said Harp has “ruffled feathers” at the White House. She said the problems with Harp stem from her belief that she reports only to President Trump, despite still being a White House staffer.
“He seems to exist kind of in a different plane here,” Holmes said. “Given the role that she’s carved out for herself, and she is uniquely influential in this White House, and particularly when it comes to President Trump.”
One White House adviser told CNN that Trump “likes the attention and the fact that she is 100 percent committed and loyal,” adding that Harp “doesn’t second guess, doesn’t question.”
A Republican lawmaker also pointed out that they always make sure Harp knows when they are contacting Trump.
“She always responds. I don’t know how she manages it all,” the source told CNN, noting that as well as passing on their messages to the president, the aide will often personally send lawmakers articles or notes on Trump’s behalf.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Holmes was involved a Harp-related meltdown with Trump on Monday, which has pushed the aide into the media spotlight.
The CNN reporter asked Trump about Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff stating during a rally on Sunday that the president “wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
Trump insulted Ossoff, did not discuss Harp, and when Holmes asked the president another question he shouted “QUIET!” at her repeatedly.
The president also called Holmes “disrespectful” and told her, “You’re a fake reporter and you report fake news!”
A former host at the far-right network One America News Network (OANN), Harp first came into contact with Trump when she thanked him for signing the Right to Try Act in 2019, which she claimed allowed her to receive experimental treatment for her bone cancer.
“I was that forgotten person on the side of the road … and left to die of cancer,” Harp recounted at an event with the president in 2019. “But then, an outsider—my Good Samaritan, President Donald J. Trump—he saw me there, and he didn’t walk by. He stopped.”
However experts told the Washington Post in 2020 that the drug Harp claimed Trump helped her to access was already approved by the FDA when she received it.
Harp has become a near-constant presence in Trump’s life, and her estranged brother has called her bond with the president “very unhealthy.”
Early in his second term, Trump told his team that Harp “was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and his kids,” according to Regime Change, a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
